


Heart of the Mind

by MrYaksup



Category: Animaniacs
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note by chapter, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Psychological Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:35:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 104,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrYaksup/pseuds/MrYaksup
Summary: The Warner siblings have been chased out of their home and find themselves in a strange new country, where they find out they're not the only warners out there. This seems like a good thing, but what happens when they become tangled in the liberation of their species' country and a conspiracy associated with kidnappings? Maybe they're more involved than they initially realize.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm finally releasing the story I've always wanted to write, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! Dunno how much of a fandom Animaniacs has in AO3 but whatevs. I'll be uploading quite a few chapters at first to catch up to the ones I put up on fanfiction.net
> 
> (Also pls forgive me for the formatting I'm new to uploading on this site lol I have no clue what I'm doing)

Ignorance is said to bring bliss. In my opinion, it's both a blessing, and a curse. 

It may do you good at first, but being unaware of your surroundings will only lead to you having less of a chance at survival, and worse, it may hurt those close to you. Even though you can't help it, it won't change the fact that ignorance is the reason why relationships fall apart, why people get hurt. A small child that is ignorant to the fact that the fireplace is dangerous may crawl to it and get burnt by the flames. Had he known that the fire would harm him so, he wouldn't have approached it at all. 

Knowledge is power. Ignorance is weakness. 

But sometimes, people preffer to be weak, and be protected by the ignorance. Who knows, they may be happy that way. 

I can assure you that this does not apply to me. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

\-- Run -- 

\-- Skid -- 

\-- Turn --

\-- Hide -- 

\-- Breathe --

The distant shouts of their pursuers echoed through the forest, making it sound like there were more people than he had actually counted. 

He had counted at least ten. Ten against three. 

And they had weapons. Knives, axes, hell, they probably had guns, and him? 

He only had his smarts. Oh, and two small children who were clinging to his pants' leg like it was a lifeline. 

They were coming closer, he could hear them. Back to escaping. 

\-- Run -- 

They spotted him. 

\-- Run faster --

He heard the sounds of shooting, and bullets flew through the air and past their arms and legs. They weren't aiming for any vital points. They needed them alive. 

The rain didn't allow for much maneuvering in between the trees, but he had to keep going. His legs ached from running and his lungs burned. 

The two smaller bodies running alongside him were a distraction. He had to constantly rake his eyes along their bodies to see if they had been hurt somewhere beneath all the dirt and wet clothes on their skin. In turn, they would occasionally turn their little heads to look up at him and give him a reassuring nod that kept him from worrying for a few more minutes. That is, if he managed to see it while the rain constantly got in his eyes. 

He chanced a peek backwards to see if the bastards were still chasing. 

They were. 

\-- Keep running -- 

\-- Don't let them catch you --

\-- Breathe --

For how long had they been running? Hours? A day? He couldn't tell. He didn't have a watch. He'd left it back at their house along with all their stuff. 

Well, it had been their stuff, and their house. They were homeless now. 

He wasn't the only one having difficulties. On his routine check of his brother and sister, he saw the way their breaths turned to pants, how their legs were less responsive. They were getting tired, he would have to stop. 

\-- Maneuver, turn in random directions to disorient them. Grab the kids so they don't get lost --

Done. The humans didn't know where they were. 

\-- Skid --

\-- Turn -- 

\-- Hide --

\-- Breathe -- 

They were back to searching, and the Warners were back to hiding.

He pressed himself against the back of a tree, hugging his younger brother and sister to himself in order to shield them from view as much as possible. They huffed almost synchronized breaths, shaking in his arms as they tried to jump their weight from one foot to the other. 

He wanted to look at his surroundings, but it was so dark he could hardly see anything. He felt his siblings squeezing his hands in theirs and he squeezed back. 

He didn't know where he was running to. He'd just wanted to get away and they'd been cornered into the forest. Supposedly, there was no way out of it. People said that it went on for miles and miles, and that those who entered never came back. He didn't really believe in curses, mind you, but he couldn't exactly say that the thought didn't make him nervous. Let's say he was a half-believer. 

\-- There's no such thing as curses, Yakko. You're getting out of here alive, and so are Wakko and Dot. --

\-- Don't panic. --

Yakko silently thanked his head for providing appropriate support, taking deep breaths once his heart-rate had calmed a little and watching as his brother and sister did the same. Their pursuers were pointing their flashlights around the area aimlessly trying to spot them, and he put a finger to his mouth to tell his siblings to be quiet. Apparently they saw it, because they squeezed his hands again. 

The rain started to let up a little to the point that it was light drizzle, so he passed his hands along his face to clear his vision of water and turned his head this and that way, searching for some kind of place to hide properly. If the humans walked just a few more steps they'd find them. 

He noticed a patch of foliage just a few meters from where they were, a thicker one. They'd be able to hide easier in there, he told himself, so when the lights weren't directly pointed in their direction, he gave Wakko and Dot a little push and whispered "Run". 

The break, despite being very short, helped them regain some of their stamina and they immediately shot out of their hiding spot, ignoring the shouts of their pursuers who had spotted them as they got five feet nearer the thicker trees. 

Yakko heard the sounds of shooting again, clenched his teeth and hoped the bastards couldn't see well enough in the dark to hit them- but then he heard one hit a tree ahead of them, and somehow as they passed by it he was able to see something long and pointy lodged in the bark. 

They were shooting tranquilizer darts. 

\- Shit - he thought, his heartbeat accelerating twice its normal speed - If one of those hits us we'll be down for the count in under a minute - but they were just about getting to the thicker part of the forest. If they could just make it there, their chances of being hit would be reduced dramatically. 

\-- Come on, just a little more -- his head encouraged him, almost as if patting his back to keep going. 

His muscles ached for mercy as the fact that they were nearing safer ground made them think the chase was almost over. He looked to his sides and almost breathed a sigh of relief to see Wakko and Dot were still running with him, and felt stupid for not having checked sooner. 

The trees were getting nearer. 

He was taking the last step in- 

And they ran past, having to avoid a lot more trees this time as they got to a bit of a safe distance. 

\-- Skid --

\-- Turn -- 

\-- Hide --

\-- Breathe -- 

Yakko did the same pattern he'd been using, only peeking from behind two connected trees to see where their pursuers were. He couldn't see them. 

But he could hear them. 

"... I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to die."

"Don't be stupid, it's just trees. We won't get our pay if we don't grab those mutts, remember?"

"Didn't you hear the rumors, though?"

"What rumors?"

"... That those who go past this point never return."

One of them sighed "I don't have time for dumb superstitions, I want that money and some thick-ass trees or curses aren't going to stop me from getting it."

"Dude, I'm not going in there."

"Sorry, me neither."

"Come on, you guys don't believe in that shit, do you?"

There was a concerned murmur, and when they realized the majority was skeptical about crossing the forest, the three siblings smiled big at each other. 

"I don't know about you, but I'm going in for the prize."

Maybe they would have to fight this one though. 

"Don't be such an asshole, let them go. That money ain't worth running around all night in the rain chasing a bunch of mutated kids into a cursed forest. I'm... I'm just going to pretend none of this ever happened and go to bed."

"Yeah, this is getting too ridiculous, even for me."

There was a collected agreement and he heard footsteps going in the other direction. 

"Guys! Hey! You're not going to leave me to chase after them by myself, are you?"

There was no response. 

The stubborn human groaned and threw something to the ground, presumably his gun "Fuck it, I'm too tired for this bullshit" then, he too began walking away, but not before shouting out "I hope you kids had fun making us run around for nothing!"

And so, they were alone. 

"Yeah, we had a blast being persecuted all the way from the city into this dinky cursed forest. We love falling into mud and getting soaked to the bone" Yakko muttered sarcastically as he eased himself off the tree they had been hiding behind and attempted to brush his khakis into some form of cleanliness. As he held his hands up and saw the mud clinging to his gloves though... Yeeeeeah, there was no way he wouldn't look like a hobo who had just ran neck-deep in dirt.

Oh, he actually was a hobo now. No need to worry about his image then. 

\-- Hey, at least you're safe. --

"Who do they think they are?" Wakko growled as he clenched his fists "It's not like we /asked/ to be chased until we could barely feel our feet" to show how that was an accurate statement, his expression went from enraged to mildly worried as he lifted his right foot and looked at it as if saying 'please don't give up on me'. 

"Dumb, that's what they are" Dot didn't sound half as upset as her older brother did; she was more annoyed than anything. The danger they'd been in was probably not sinking in yet. She huffed as she tried to clean herself much like Yakko had, but with the same amount of success. Read: none. Making a disgusted face at her muddy form, she continued "They're all cowards anyway. Who put them up to this job?"

"I have a feeling it was the same pretentious douchebag that kicked us off the studio" Yakko couldn't help but grimace at the thought. And everything had been going so well too...

"... Can't believe TP would leave a loophole that big in our contract" Dot sighed, seeming legitimately sad "Or do you think the new guy just didn't care about legal things?" 

"... I don't think anything he did was legal, Dot" Wakko grumbled as he kept jumping onto his feet to return them to consciousness "/We're/ not legal in the first place, I don't think."

"Probably not, but regardless... " Yakko looked around them, feeling his spirit sink a bit when all he saw was darkness and trees. Lots and lots of trees "We should try to find a way out of this forest."

"... And then?" 

Yakko turned his head to look at his brother and sister, both looking up at him with worry. He could practically feel their fear combined with his at the thought that they had just lost their only home, their chance of getting food, water and safety. They were on their own now. All they had were each other and the muddy clothes on their backs. 

They were screwed. 

But he couldn't tell them that, now could he?

"Then... Well, we'll see what'll happen when we get out, okay?" he gave them a small smile, and they hesitantly returned it. He knew they trusted him, but they also had needed to realize a long time ago that although Yakko was their older brother and their protector, he was not invincible in any way. He couldn't produce a home out of thin air either. So, it was understandable that they were scared. 

"Alright, since we can't go back, let's see where forward leads us." 

All their nerves high-strung, the three children walked through the dark forest, and though there was no longer rain falling on them, the trees reached so high and they were so big they covered their view of the sky, hiding the moon completely. They were basically walking blindfolded. 

The sound of wolf howls could be heard from a distance. 

"Yakko... Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dot shook a bit as she held onto his right hand, not caring if both their gloves were muddy. Scary circumstances required hand-holding "This place is creepy and I can't see anything."

"Sorry sis, I really wish we could turn back" Yakko grit his teeth, constantly turning his head both ways in search for danger, but again, he couldn't see any more than she did "But those guys will be searching for us again, and I don't think letting them catch us is a good idea either."

"Just hope we don't end up in some wolf's belly" Wakko shivered at the thought and held on tighter to his older brother's left hand, wrapping his free arm around himself "I don't think we'd taste very good..." 

That was basically the end of all conversation as they carried on, walking deeper into the forest. An owl flying out at them almost gave them a heart-attack, and they had to beware not to step on any weird things, but about an hour later, they still had no view of anything that looked remotely like civilization. 

They were all tired, so after calculating that they wouldn't be getting out anytime soon, Yakko made them stop at what looked like a clearing. The grass seemed dry since the trees had barely let any rain down to this spot, and he could easily look around them in case something came out of the blue here. Perfect spot to make a stop. 

"What do you say we take a break?" 

His brother and sister instantly fell onto the grass at his words and groaned out their thanks, letting themselves lie onto their backs. He smiled at the way they sighed in relief as their muscles got the chance to rest and sat down near them. 

"How much longer...?" Wakko mumbled as he stretched. 

"... A while. I think we should sleep and wait until morning, it won't do us any good if we suddenly pass out randomly" Yakko let himself fall onto his back as well, closing his eyes for a second before opening them suddenly when he felt a poke at his arm. 

"Yakko?" Dot looked up at him as she jumped forward on her knees to be a little closer to him, and he gave a half-hearted stretch of his arms before he sat up and looked at his sister. 

"What is it?"

"... I have to go to the bathroom."

Oh. That was a problem. 

"Um... You can't hold it until morning, can you?" 

"I can't hold it for another minute."

Nothing to do about it then. Yakko shrugged as he stood up, helping her up by his hand "There aren't any toilets unfortunately, but you can use a bush."

"I know that" Dot rolled her eyes and tugged on his hand "But I don't want to go to that dark place alone." 

"So you're asking me to just stand there while you empty your bladder?"

"... Yes?" 

He had watched over them since they had been in diapers, so it's not like it bothered him, but...

"That would mean Wakko would be the one left alone."

"What" at his name and 'alone' being uttered in the same sentence, Wakko looked up with wide eyes and an expression that pretty much screamed betrayal "I'm not going to stay here in the dark while you go pee."

"Well too bad, I'm younger so I get special treatment." 

"Hey, no fair!" 

"Guys, I know we're all on edge but we can't afford fights right now" they quieted down at that "It'll just be a minute, and we'll be right over there" Yakko pointed at a large bush a few steps ahead of them "Think you can take the dark long enough for our sister to keep her dignity?"

Dot deadpanned at him, clearly not amused, as Wakko fidgeted on his spot of grass. 

"... Can't I be the one that has to stand there awkwardly instead of the one that has to stay in the dark waiting for wolves to eat him?" he gave him a nervous smile.

"Glad to see you prefer me getting eaten by wolves" Yakko rolled his eyes, though he knew that wasn't what his brother had meant. Wakko spluttered to explain anyway.

"That's not it! But you're older and you can probably defend yourself against them better..."

Yakko was about to say that he actually considered Wakko to be stronger (after all, Yakko had been compared to very thin sticks many times before), but Dot interrupted him. 

"No way am I letting you watch me pee" her face scrunched up like she had said Wakko had cooties. 

"I don't wanna watch you pee either, you know" he stared at her in a deadpan. 

"Then just stay here while I do it and you won't have to."

"You don't mind Yakko going with you, what's so bad about me?"

"I trust him. Knowing you, you'd probably try to scare me."

"I wouldn't scare you!" he looked to the side conspirationally "... Much."

"See!" 

"Guys, not the time" Yakko sighed, thankfully getting their attention "Listen, you two go over there and I'll wait here. Wakko, if I hear you scared Dot you're gonna be in trouble." Wakko muttered something about injustice under his breath, pouting, while Dot beamed "If you need me just yell and I'll go running, okay?"

Seemingly satisfied by the arrangement, they both nodded - Dot enthusiastically, Wakko in mild defeat - and scurried off to the bush. A moment later he could hear them arguing again. 

"Geez, can't stop fighting for one second" he sighed as he tried to stretch again, a few kinks in his back getting back in place. 

He heard the sound of something cracking, and ouch, his bones shouldn't make such an ugly sound, he was still sixteen, not an old man. 

He heard it again. 

Wait, those weren't his bones- something had stepped on a twig and snapped it. 

Before he had a chance to look around and see what it had been, something jumped out from behind him and pulled his arms behind his back with one arm, the other covering his mouth. He stiffened against his captor, the blood rushing out of his face and leaving him white as a sheet.

Thoughts banged against the walls of his head like angry bees; /it was a trap, the humans had been following them this whole time, they were going to get killed, oh god, /oh god/ /. Another two figures emerged from the bushes, clad in black suits, the only part of them visible a slit where their eyes were. They had guns in their hands. 

He could only shake in fear as the shorter of the two new figures pressed the barrel of their gun to his forehead, his heartbeat quickening from panic, his body thrashing against his restraints. The one behind him was taller, stronger, and only tightened their hands around his wrists painfully in response to his erratic movements. 

The shortest figure leaned closer to him. Through the slit of their suit he could only see impossibly white skin and cold emerald eyes. That skin did not look human. 

"State your full name and your business."

Their voice wasn't menacingly deep, but it also wasn't high and squeaky like his. It was just the right pitch to impose a feeling of dread in his bones when the words were said so harshly, threatening. He could tell the words "or I'll shoot you right now" were implicit. 

Seeing he couldn't easily respond with a hand to his mouth, the person behind him let go of it, and he coughed briefly from having his breath taken from him so abruptly. 

"I-" he coughed again, his breath leaving him in short, panicked gasps. His next words were intentionally loud, and unintentionally nervous "Y-Yakko Warner, I- I was-"

With an annoyed grunt and the sound of the safety being pulled out, the figure growled at him "/Get on with it/."

"Running! I was being chased, I just ran blindly!" his eyes unwillingly slid to the bushes he'd seen Wakko and Dot disappear behind. He was almost yelling, they had to be able to hear him and /run/ "I-I just wanted to get to the other side-"

"Chased?" he felt a small pang of relief when the gun lowered slightly at the confusion in the figure's voice "Did the humans betray you? Not that it would surprise me."

That was... surprisingly similar to their situation, but why had the person referred to them as "humans"? 

"I..." the confusion overcame the fright for just a moment, slowing down his breaths ""Humans"? Aren't /you/ humans?"

The shortest one frowned, but before either of them could speak a rustle came from the bushes he's hoped his captors hadn't noticed. It was not to be clearly, for struggling and shouts resounded from that direction and Yakko felt his heart sink. Of course they hadn't run... 

"Hey, Rose" a new voice spoke as the second figure, one he hadn't noticed slip away while the shortest had been threatening him, stepped out of the folliage. They were holding Wakko and Dot by the scruff of their necks like newborn kittens "There's two more. And they're... kids."

His siblings, to their credit, remained silent. Wakko stared at the one holding them in nervousness while Dot glared at them with frightened eyes. 

The shortest (Rose?) gestured with her head to them, her eyes less threatening and the gun no longer touching him "You know them?"

Yakko, out of ideas, gulped and hoped he was making the right choice "... They're my siblings."

"... Huh" it was a small confused sound that the shortest let slip out. The gun lowered completely and he could feel the one behind him grabbing his wrists in a much gentler hold "Well... Let him go for now, Star. Whether he's telling the truth or not, they don't seem very dangerous."

The tall one behind him (Star?) released him slowly, and he immediately brought his arms forward, rubbing his wrists, jittery. He kept his gaze on the still unnamed figure, the one holding his brother and sister, his expression becoming one of challenge. It was easy to be brave when there wasn't a gun being held against his forehead. He kept up the vicious stare until Rose finally spoke up. 

"You too, Mary" she motioned to the figure and she, thankfully, set Wakko and Dot down gently on the ground.

And they ran to him. 

It was a wordless exchange of strong emotions, a strong group hug that was probably crushing his siblings' chests as much as it was his, but they were still together and they were still okay. That was what was important. 

"Did you- Did you really almost get /shot/ because I had to go to the bathroom?" Dot shook and held him tighter, sniffling a little.

"... Maybe I should have stayed and waited for the wolves to eat me" Wakko just gripped at his clothes and sent deadly glares to the figures. One of them coughed, uncomfortable.

"Hey, no pity parties are scheduled for the tiny Warners, only big brother can have those" he patted both of them on the head, a small smile on his face. It was forced, but with how dark it was they probably wouldn't notice "What matters is that we're fine, and hey! Maybe these three can guide us out of the forest, since this was all one big misunderstanding... Right?" 

His gaze turned to the figures, or guessing by their names, the girls. Star, the tallest, and Mary, the medium height one, looked at the one in the middle of them, Rose. The shortest of the three gave both of them a look before looking back at him, a frown back on her face. 

"Where were you hoping to go?" she asked, seeming tense. Was a questioning really necessary?

"Just... Somewhere away from the city" he replied tersely, his arms around his siblings tightening their hold. He was only hoping they would lead them out because he literally had no other choice. It didn't mean he trusted them. Not. One. Bit "Isn't there supposedly no other side?"

Rose's eyes widened in shock "... Are you serious?"

"Is there a reason why I would lie?"

"I..." she looked at the tallest, incredulous "He can't be serious, right Star?"

Star shrugged "I suppose anything is possible, but there is something we could do to confirm if he's lying or not."

Then she did something unexpected; she took off her mask. Rose and Mary, appearing to understand, did the same.

And immediately the jaws of the three siblings fell to the floor.

They were /definitely/ not human. They were... like them. He would almost call them the same "species". The color of their hair and eyes was different but- the black ears, the white face, the muzzle, the red nose- it was all identical to them. 

They were all blonde, although Rose seemed to have the darker shade, Mary a middle tone, and Star had strands that went from a lighter color to a darker one. Their hair was long, and only Star had it tied up in a ponytail. 

"... Okay, there's no way that surprise is anything but genuine" Rose, still incredulous, laughed out, shaking her head "I'm guessing you thought you three were the only warners in the universe?"

"... Warners?" Yakko asked, his throat dry. 

Was this really happening? Did this mean they weren't all alone in the world?

"It's the name of our species" Mary answered, giving him a smile. It was a little tilted, a little uncomfortable, but mostly well intended "You... really didn't know?"

"... Species...?" Dot muttered, sounding just as dehydrated as he did. This wasn't something that was easy to accept out of the blue.

"Woah" Wakko whispered, his eyes close to shining. He had hope. That was good "This... This is good, right Yakko?"

Yakko wanted to smile, but he was unsure of how to feel about the revelation. This would certainly get them out of the forest though "Yes, sib. Yes it is."

"Unfortunately for all of us, it's protocol to treat you like spies until we know more about you" Star spoke calmly and almost mechanically, purely business "So how about we have a little chat while we walk to our destination?"

"Good idea, I'd love to hear more about what the hell you're all doing here," Rose hummed in curiosity, though she then grimmaced "but I think we all heard the wolves' howl. They'll be searching for food in a little while, and personally I don't wanna end up in their gut, so..."

Well, if that didn't convince him, nothing would.

"Let's get walking."

It was an unanimous vote that the three siblings would follow the three blondes to wherever they were going. Yakko hoped this meant that things would start looking up for them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to give anyone who reads a heads up, so far I have something like 32 chapters written for this story. I've edited/fixed up to chapter 7, and they're all already on fanfiction.net. I'll also probably upload them here shortly, if not immediately. 
> 
> However, updates will probably be sporadic. Between college, finals, and writing more chapters I dunno how long it will take each time for an update. One thing I can assure though is that this story won't be abandoned. Not because I'm super confident about it, but rather because this is a story I've been planning/attempting to write for years. Now that the plot is more or less set in stone I'm finally writing it and planning on taking it to the end, no matter how rocky and difficult the road. I think I'd pretty much die of guilt if I don't finish it lol it was pretty much one of my few aspirations when I was 10. 
> 
> So yeah, don't worry about a lack of updates in the future is what I'm trying to say. I just take a while to edit chapters because I want this story to be as good as I can currently write it. I don't want to slack off on it too much. 
> 
> With that said, enjoy!

To be frank, Yakko had no idea what was going on.

They had been chased off the Warner Bros. Studios, the place that had taken them in, given them a job, shelter. And now they were halfway across the "Forbidden" forest with three girls of their same species who apparently came from a country filled with them.

The world officially made no sense.

It hadn't been easy, escaping the lot, both literally and emotionally. Though the last few hours had been uncannily close to one of his worst nightmares, it had been their home once. Their happy memories of the show, the late-night marathons they'd had while eating pizza; hell, memories of growing up... They'd lost every memory they had as a family. He hadn't even been able to save the few pictures he'd taken throughout the years. 

And now? Now they were on their own, following three strangers through a forest at night. Not to mention one of them had tried to shoot straight through his head. 

Had they had any sort of safe place to go to, Yakko would have immediately ditched the three blondes and ran there with his siblings, but being as it may, they were lost in the world. They were their best bet, and he thought it said something about their situation that he'd thought that of the people who had threatened his life.

Speaking of, Rose kept glancing at him as they walked, as if waiting for him to say something. While Wakko and Dot walked ahead with Marilyn and StarDust, chatting as if they'd always been best friends, she decided to stay behind a little, next to him. Maybe she worried that he would run off, but being so far away from his siblings and knowing he wouldn't be fast enough to take them with him, he would never even try it. Escaping by himself was simply not an option.

Wakko and Dot, while not gullible in any way, were a lot more trusting than he was. After staying silent for 20 minutes with the two strangers trying to start friendly conversation, they'd warmed up enough to them to at least chat semi-relaxedly. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. On one hand it was good that they weren't panicking, but letting their guard down so quickly went against a rule that he'd lived by for most of his life. The rule that trust can only be given to those that have proven to be worthy of it.

In contrast, he felt the paranoia he'd come to accept as part of his character eating at him as he walked, sensing that there was more that the blondes wanted than just to talk. And besides, even if the three did only want to talk... then what? They would just... learn to live in the forest like some kind of cavemen for the rest of their lives? They couldn't go back, but forward didn't hold anything either, if the legends were to be believed, and they didn't really know much about living away from civilization, seeing as they'd basically been coddled for the few years they'd been at the studio. What were they going to do?

... What was _he_  going to do? How could he protect them in this environment?    

His thoughts hung heavy on his psyche. The forest was mostly silent, only the occasional calls of the wolves breaking the quiet, telling them they had to hurry to wherever the hell the girls were leading them if they didn't want to be eaten. Crickets sung throughout their walk, and he attempted to listen to the animals to calm his racing heart. It wasn't working too well.

Rose somehow seemed to feel his distress, since she began walking just the slightest bit closer and her previously blank glances became worried ones. When she spoke it was in an almost quiet and friendly tone.

"You don't have to be scared, you know" when she looked him up and down as if gauging his reaction he couldn't help but protectively crossing his arms over his chest "We just have to ask you a few questions. Standard stuff, really, like what you were doing in the forest, where you came from, things like that."  

"So what, I have to give you my life story?" he grumbled. He thanked the stars that he had crossed his arms beforehand, because they'd started to tremble and it made it less obvious "You _just_  ambushed and tried to shoot my head off, I'm not exactly in the mood to give you details. Besides, why should I tell you anything?"

His sudden bad mood appeared to surprise her, but she quickly countered it with a glare. It was weak and seemed almost sympathetic, but it was a glare nonetheless "Like we said, it's protocol. We're just trying to make sure you aren't a spy who slipped through our radar, and we can't exactly shirk our duties when they're so important. Do you even know what would happen if the humans knew about us?" 

He only sent her a much more intense glare. Of course he knew. He'd seen enough about how humanity reacted to things they didn't understand to know.

"They would kill us. We don't have the advanced weapons they have, we would be dead in a few days. It would barely even be a war" she hissed out to him, clenching her fists. In the face of her anger, most of the empathy left her eyes "Just the fact that you come from the human world is enough justification to get rid of you to save our species from extinction, so if you don't want another gun to your face, I suggest you start acting a little less pissy."

And there it was. Beneath the mask of concern and gentleness she still didn't trust or like him, so why should he be any more amiable?

She did literally hold their lives in her hand though. Maybe he really should be a little less rude, all things considered.

"... I'll tell you what you want to know if you give me some information about "your world"" he bargained, toning down the glare to a silent stare "We really don't know anything about it, and I'd rather not stumble blindly when we actually get there."

At the mention of an information exchange, she raised an eyebrow, but seemed almost impressed by his guts. A lesser person would have probably spilled upon realizing the danger they were in, but Yakko, regardless of his fear for most situations, was more likely to punch someone in the face than hide and cry.

"Fine, it's not like it's top secret information anyway" Rose gave a thoughtful hum as she moved leaves away from their vision, even being nice enough to hold them for him so they wouldn't hit him in the face when she inevitably let go of them "Our world, that is to say, where warners live, is really a place called WarnerStock. I guess you could say it's a small country. We've been on Earth for almost as long as humans, but our ancestors used to live deep underground, so we were hidden pretty well. We decided to rise to the surface around... When was it that the humans built Ancient Rome?" she thought about it for a moment but ultimately shrugged "Eh, around that time. We took a liking to their gods and most of us still believe in them even today."

Wow, even as early as Ancient Rome? That shocked him silent for a moment, but he ultimately countered with "How come people haven't noticed you guys going above ground?"

"We've stayed hidden the whole time and interacted with them as little as possible, only stealing a few pieces of technology here and there and mostly watching from a distance. We searched for a place they hadn't taken over yet because of old superstition and made a settlement here, keeping humans away with legends. Any who passed over this forest wouldn't go back to tattle to their friends."

"You killed humans who got too close" it was more a statement than a question, his tone almost accusing. Was she trying to sugarcoat it because they came from the "human world"?

She looked sheepish at his jab so maybe that was it "It was the only way to keep our existence hidden from them... I already told you how dangerous it would be for them to know about us. They've enslaved their own race and have no qualms with murdering others who aren't quite like them; a whole new intelligent species that can pose a threat to their spot as highest in the food chain would be disastrous."

Much as he would like to defend the humans, he knew all to well they were far from saints and that she was right. He just hoped she knew they weren't all like that.

"Anyway" she shook her head to clear the thought from her mind, cutting down another branch with a grunt "You know how this place is called the Forbidden Forest? Humans' own legends faded away far too quickly for our taste, so we just made new ones. They don't seem too keen on exploring places where many of them have died, so we haven't had to kill any in quite a while if that helps any. On the other side of the forest is WarnerStock, our country... but what you really want to know is why we were so sure you were intruders, right?"

He shrugged "Can't say it isn't. I mean, you three were in here so why can't we be without being spies?"

She rolled her eyes before frowning at him "Because this is part of _our job_ , smartass. We're qualified to be here, and nobody else is supposed to be in these woods, let alone so far away from our country. If you're this far in you're either supposed to be there, or you're not. In which case, you're an intruder" her expression slowly eased from aggressiveness to tiredness. His shocked reactions probably helped his story that he didn't know anything about this little country she was talking about "Look, our boss is ripping her hair out because there's been a few residents recently that vanished overnight and we haven't found them since. Suspicious-acting residents, if you get what I mean. There's the possibility they're working with the humans for something or another and we've been told to be severely strict with anyone we find. This really isn't personal."

It probably wasn't, but she still kept a watchful eye on him to see how he reacted to the news of the residents under suspicion. Probably trying to gauge if he was involved in any way, but there mustn't have been anything incriminating on his face, because she quickly moved her stare back to the trees around them and changed the subject "That's as much as you're getting out of me by the way, so you better start talking if you want to be out of suspicion." 

As much as he wanted to be able to walk near the three without fearing for his or his siblings' safety, he wasn't sure he wanted to tell them about their lives. Aside from being really personal, some of it might make them view him in a negative light, and that was the last thing they needed right now.

He also felt a deep sense of unease inside him.

\-- You don't have to tell them anything, Yakko. --

\- ... I do if I want them to stop treating us like prisoners. -

His choice made, he sighed "What do you want me to tell you?"

"Well, uh" she looked surprised that he actually complied, scrambling for a question "Lets start with what you told us back there. You said you were being chased? I assume it was by humans."

"You assume right. They were chasing us because our boss' replacement figured that the only thing we could still be useful for was to become lab experiments, tried to make one last profit off us" he huffed out, still unsure how to process this. Suddenly the people they'd learned to rely on had tried to hurt them, and it wasn't something they could get out of without at least holding lingering resentment "We just ran, we couldn't really see where we were going. It was pretty lucky that we ended up here. Anywhere else and they would have eventually caught us, or another human would have done something worse."

The sympathetic stare was back, and Rose stayed quiet as he continued ranting "It just isn't fair! We worked hard for them, put our trust in them, laughed with them... And this is how they repaid us. By making us fear for our lives and end up homeless without anything but the clothes on our backs" he sighed out in frustration, but kept going for Rose's benefit "We used to be actors. Our old boss had the brilliant idea to cast us as cartoon characters when the movie studio found us, and our show was a hit for a while. Everything has to end though, and after a movie that was our last hurrah, we were no longer useful. Our old boss kept us safe for a while, but... Well, I already told you what happened." 

Rose sent him a small soft smile that was probably meant to be reassuring, but it only made him fake a smile back in reflex. He had so much practice with it it'd become almost instantaneous. Instead of feeling happy, he was starting to feel a little nauseous, his heart beating more quickly, probably reacting to the anger and the fear. He was so afraid, so afraid of what the future would hold for them.

The forest seemed even darker than before. Even though they had gotten to a point where the trees weren't as thick and so the moon was shining bright onto their heads, he felt like his airway was being constricted. What if they ended up on the streets? How was he supposed to support his siblings without a job? How was he supposed to have a job with no qualifications? All he knew how to do was act, sing and dance, maybe play a few random instruments half-way decently. What was he supposed to-

\-- You’ll be fine. Calm down. --

\- If only it were that easy. Maybe if you could provide a solution I would calm down. - 

\-- It'll be fine. Trust me. --

The moon was at the highest point in the sky, so he supposed it was very late. The soil under his feet was moist from the previous downpour. His spirit was being crushed in the mud.

After a while the silence became deafening. Rose seemed unable to tolerate it for a single moment more.

"You really don't know anything about us?" she asked. Her smile had fallen a while ago "Warners, I mean."

"... We've lived with humans for as long as I can remember" Yakko felt his heart sink further. She was prying more than she should be and he didn't think it was a good idea to deny her information "We didn't know there were more like us."

Her eyes turned back to the ground in front of her "... Where are your parents?"

Ah, there was one question he loathed the answer to. He wondered how long it would take for her to get to the other bad questions. 

"As far as I know, we don't have any" he tried to say it with as little emotion as possible, but it was difficult when most human media focused on the importance of family and parents having good relationships with their children "It doesn't really matter anyway, I took good enough care of us."

"You've... been alone this whole time?" her voice turned soft. Her eyes were just plain sad and it was starting to annoy him a bit. He didn't really enjoy being pitied "You and those two?"

"The studio was pretty much the only reason we managed to survive" Yakko shrugged. He gulped, trying to ignore the feeling of ghost fingers clutching at his throat.

\- Just. Stop. _Asking_  -

His anxiety was getting worse.

\-- Slow down, it's okay. Deep breaths, remember? --

Right. Deep breaths.

Following the instructions, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, his breath slightly shaky. He hoped Rose hadn’t noticed his current state.

"I couldn't have taken care of all three of us at the age of nine in a world filled with people wanting to hurt us, especially considering we're not humans."

There was a short pause, and he immediately knew he'd accidentally said too much.

"At the age of nine...?" Rose caught on to that stupid little detail he'd let slip "What happened before that?"

He coughed. The choking feeling got worse.

This just had to come up, didn't it?

\-- You don’t have to answer her, Yakko. Ignore her. This is far more than she needs to know. --

He stayed silent and stopped walking. He was too busy clenching his fists and trying not to accidentally suffocate himself.

He figured Rose understood her prying was practically sending him into a panic attack, because she backtracked almost instantly  "I mean- you don't have to tell me that, I'm sorry. That's totally personal and you've already told me enough anyway-"

"I don't know."  

She stopped her nervous babbling abruptly when he'd hissed out the words.

"... You don't know?" she frowned, but he couldn't tell whether it was in frustration or concern. He wasn't used to her facial expressions yet.

He started shaking a bit, unwilling to answer but knowing that he couldn't just not answer now. She frowned deeper, didn't push him into answering her, just... stared. She probably couldn't see his anxiousness, despite the moon it was still very dark, but she did seem to understand that he'd stopped walking out of discomfort. Even the four waking ahead of them appeared to have sensed the tense atmosphere and quieted.

After a few tense minutes that were only filled with the sounds of crickets and the occasional call of wolves, he couldn't take the quiet anymore. 

"I..."

"... You don't have to, you know"

He appreciated Star's comment, one she said quietly, in that calm and collected way he supposed was one of her traits. Her wise eyes searched his for hesitation.

"No... It's okay" he answered, feeling a bit less pressured to talk, though not exactly willing. Wakko and Dot had also turned their heads back to peek at him, looking worried. They knew what came next in the story, and though they'd been too young to really remember much, they knew this part in particular wasn't happy "I... I don't remember anything from before we got to the studio" luckily, this admission brought about more self-consciousness than it did panic.

"I don't know where I spent my childhood, or who our parents are. My earliest memory is from when I was nine."

"You... have amnesia?" she questioned quietly, almost sounding concerned. Star and Mary didn't resume conversation, apparently listening intently to what he was saying. Wakko and Dot kept silent, keeping an eye on him. 

"Pretty much" he shrugged without much energy, not really caring at this point. He had spent the seven years he remembered of his life trying to remember something, _anything_  and had only come up with smoke. The only clues he had were his dreams, if you could even call them clues. They were so bizarre he was more inclined to believe they were just weird images his imagination came up with to replace the lost memories.

At least... he hoped they were just things he imagined. Their past might be a little concerning otherwise.

"In my earliest memory I was in a hospital bed" this, he felt even more defensive about, clutching at his hands in a nervous but useless action. He couldn't stop them from judging him for the stupid mistake that almost took his life, but he could at least attempt to brace himself against it "Most of my bones were broken and I had some serious head trauma. Apparently I fell from the water tower where the studio put us."

"You fell from a _water tower_?!" her eyes were wide with disbelief and something akin to horror "There's no way you could've survived that-"

"They figured I fell from the ladder a few feet down, that's the only explanation they could come up with" he quickly interjected, knowing all too well how it had felt like he _should_  have died, with how much his body had been screaming at him. His bones had felt like they'd been made of glass "But I can't remember where I was when I fell so, it was useless speculation."

"Still," StarDust spoke up, thankfully trying to steer the conversation away from the incident itself "You remember absolutely nothing? Not even a little bit?"

"Nothing, and there was no one who could tell me anything about my past to try and force it either. Dot had been too young to remember anything and Wakko couldn't really tell me much either. He would just ask about where some people where, but I couldn't recognize their names. It was a struggle remembering my own name, let alone try and remember someone else's."

"... Sorry" Rose said, her voice almost nonexistent it was so quiet. When he turned his head to look at her, he saw her staring at the ground, as if ashamed that she had asked about such a sensitive topic. She looked truly upset.

"No, it's... fine. You didn't know" at least that bit of information was out of the way, nothing else would be as bad as that one. Well, maybe some things would be worse, but none that she would think to ask about.

"I shouldn't have pried anyway" she frowned softly "I don't even know your name and I already know a heavy, personal thing about you. It's pretty bad."

That was true, he mused. The solution to this was pretty simple "Should we present ourselves then?"

Somehow this made her perk up, sending a soft smile to him. Maybe she was relieved he wasn't angry.

"Sounds good. Us first, though" she said, and immediately pointed at herself and afterwards, at the other two "I'm Rose Milers, and those are my sisters, StarDust and Marilyn Milers. Star's the oldest one of us, she's eighteen. Mary's my twin, we're both sixteen. Now it's your turn."

"I'm Yakko, and those are my brother and sister, Wakko and Dot. Warner is our surname, which is pretty weird now that I think about it" He figured he should mention their ages too, since Rose had included theirs "I'm sixteen, Wakko's eleven, and Dot's ten."

Introductions concluded, his siblings gave a small wave to the three sisters, which StarDust answered with a "pleasure to meet you" along with a small smile, and Marilyn responded with a cheery "hey there".

"Your names are interesting. They'd definitely fit in a cartoon" Rose gave him an amused tilt of lips that was almost a grin.

"I won't take that from someone named after a flower" Yakko tried hiding his own smile behind his palm.

"Hey, it's a popular name!" she sounded a little defensive when she said that, but didn't seem to take it to heart because the smile didn't disappear from her face.

Now that the air had cleared and the anxiousness had mostly left his system, he was content to start walking with them again. When he looked ahead, he smiled a little when he saw that his siblings had engaged in happy conversation with the two Milers once more, but he couldn't help but wonder why they'd been walking for so long and they still hadn't reached their destination.

"How long do we still have to go?" he asked, legitimately curious since he wasn't quite a pit of nerves anymore. He was starting to get excited, wanting to see this new civilization full of people like them... but that would have to wait until morning. The three of them were way too exhausted from running in the forest almost the whole night.

Speaking of night, the moon was no longer visible. The first rays of sunlight passed through the sky and shone on ahead. It was the sunrise. 

"We just have a few more minutes to go" StarDust informed him, still looking ahead.

"I didn't know this forest was so big" he commented, a bit surprised. He could see how someone could get easily lost in it.

"We plant a few trees every year, so that we can slowly make the border longer" Marilyn explained, skipping as if she hadn't been walking the entire night. He envied her energy "That way there's less chance of someone finding us even if they get in here."

"And then the wolves do the job for us" Rose looked at him with a bit of shame when she said that, as if he would put it against her "The humans who come in these woods are usually just curious to see what's on the other side, or interested in the rumors of the curse we spread, so there's no need for us to get directly involved as long as they don't find us. In this case though..." 

She let the thought trail off, suddenly frowning "Hey, now that I think about it, you guys are literally homeless."

"Well, thanks for reminding us" he drawled back, deadpanning "Not like it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since then."  

With a click of her tongue, she pouted at him "Don't be like that, I was going somewhere with that thought. You see, I'm sure you've realized you can't stay in the forest. Aside from the obvious danger of wolves and a need to build a house, it's literally illegal. So I was thinking..."

"... We could stay in WarnerStock?" he finished her thought, skeptical. When he looked ahead though, he saw how his siblings had turned their heads to look at Rose in what seemed like excitement. He could already see this was a losing battle.

She looked proud at him having figured it out "Yup. There's always need for more people, especially in our line of work" Rose nodded in satisfaction, as if they'd already agreed "Having three more mouths to feed won't be a problem."

"I don't know, we don't really have any skills that could help with anything other than entertainment" he drummed his fingers together, a little ashamed at this even if they hadn't exactly had a choice "I mean, none that could be developed enough to get us a job."

"That won't be a problem" Marilyn assured him, sending him a big grin "We'll be taking care of that."

Well...

They couldn't exactly go back to the studio, they'd be sent to a laboratory. They couldn't stay on the human world's streets, someone would see them and make them a zoo attraction. They couldn't stay in the woods, the wolves would eat them (and apparently it was illegal). WarnerStock had people like them, security. They already knew the Milers sisters, who... he hoped would keep their word and help them set their new lives up. They would have new jobs, a new home, food and shelter. They wouldn't have to hide anymore, because they would be surrounded by people like them. Honestly, it sounded like their quality of life could even be better than before. So then... Why?

Why was he scared?

For some reason, staying in WarnerStock sounded like the worst idea he'd had in a while. It made his stomach churn, and his knees shake. He felt a sense of unease that was more instinctual than anything. Like something was inherently wrong with WarnerStock, which didn't make much sense because, somewhere deep inside him, he was sure he hadn't seen much of it in his short life.

... Maybe that made some sort of sense, somehow. 

The sisters seemed intent on getting them to move in, however.

"Just think about it," Rose said, her smile staring him right in the face "It's a nice place."

\-- No. _No_. --

"You'll be able to be with others like you."

\-- This is a terrible idea. --

"Who knows, you might even find your parents."

\-- We shouldn't be here. --

"You can't do much else, to be honest. It's your best bet."

\-- We _can't_  be here. --

In the face of his situation, he probably shouldn't follow these three strangers who he had just met yesterday. Especially not since they had kidnapped them and brought them halfway across a forest they couldn't hope to cross alone.

But... he didn't have any other choice.

\-- Don't follow them, Yakko. --

He ignored his instincts that were telling him to run.

\-- _Don't_. --

Looking back at Rose, who was staring at him with wide expectant eyes, he opened his mouth and said-

\-- _They're going to find us_. --

"Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

He was in a deep sleep, colors passing through his mind and making shapes, turning his blank thoughts into dreams. Somehow, this time, his dreams weren't filled with red and black, nor did he feel the need to run away from anything.

The colors were calm. There were blues, greens, yellows; the dream was colorful and happy.

\-- Damn it, you never listen to me! --

And for some reason, the voice considered this to be a good time to bother him and cut off his pleasant dream.

Now half-awake, Yakko groaned at the voice's complaint. However, he was all too used to it and thus only trained his ears to the sound of the ceiling fan turning above him. He yawned, turning over in the bed, effectively relaxing enough to stay in the hazy half-awake state.

\-- You're seriously going to ignore me. --

He did, indeed, ignore the voice. He had been trying to do that for a while actually, because when he'd talked it over with the WB psychiatrist, he'd been told it was not normal to have a second voice in your head that contradicted with your thoughts. Almost like it had a personality of its own.

It had always been there. For as long as he could remember, this voice talked to him inside his head. It had been theorized that it could be a side effect from the accident, that maybe he'd hit his head so hard that not only had he lost his memory, but he could have also gained a few mental illnesses along the way. Yet no matter how much the psychiatrist had tried to match up his symptoms with an identity disorder nothing seemed to be similar enough for a proper diagnosis, and he was left shrugging at the identity of this voice in his head. It didn't seem to want to hurt him, so surely it couldn't be too terribly concerning for it to be there. 

\-- Alright. Fine, go ahead. It's not like I'm trying to make sure you don't get killed or anything. --

The only real threat it posed was that it had the uncanny ability to annoy him in almost any situation.

"Ugh, shut up... I'm trying to sleep" he grumbled, snuggling closer to a warm and soft pillow lying next to him.

\-- Sleeping in an unknown place? Yeah, that sounds very smart. --

\- I've been running through a forest all night, the _least_ you could do is let me sleep for five more minutes. -

He easily switched from talking out loud to thinking his responses. Being inside his head, the voice could hear them perfectly well, and besides, it was easier to speak to it by thoughts instead of out loud. Otherwise people might think he was crazy... Hell, maybe he already was. Who knew at this point.

\-- ... I'm sorry, okay? I know you're tired. I'm just saying that you should at least see where you are. You don't remember what happened before you got here, do you? --

... As a matter of fact, he didn't. He had been so tired that the part where he got a decent place to sleep in was a blur.

\-- Just open your eyes for a second. --

The thought was physically painful and he couldn't help but frown in misery just considering it.

\- Noooooo, that's too much wooooork. -

\-- Don't whine at me, you lazy ass. --

\- You weren't the one running around. I have every right to be lazy. -

The voice sighed, and Yakko could picture it staring at him in a deadpan.

\-- Hard to deal with as always, aren't you? --

Instead of answering, he got closer to the source of warmth and sighed contently. It had been a while since he'd gotten such a good amount of sleep without his siblings sleeping next to him. It was cruel of the voice to try and cut it short, he deserved this small bit of happiness.

There was a pause.

\-- I'm serious, you know. --

The voice didn't sound light and ready for banter anymore. It really did want him to at least check where he was.

It made him frown lightly, eyes still closed. While the voice did make a compelling argument - it was a bit stupid to simply sleep the day away after being chased and having had a gun pointed at his head - he was _so_ tired, he didn't think his muscles would work even if he tried to get up.

"Hey, get up. I'm not your cuddle buddy."

What? 

\-- Oh, look at that. Blondie's coming to wake you. --

\- Blondie? -

Confused, he slowly opened his eyes, already feeling a bit woozy- only to find that the soft pillow he'd been burrowing his face into was actually not a pillow. It was someone's side.

"Uh..." he blinked once, twice, three times, to wake himself up and try to understand the situation. The girl just stared at him blankly, sitting up, while he looked up at her with wide eyes, his arms around her waist and his cheek square on the side of her stomach.

"Oh" as if scalded by hot water, his hands jumped away from her waist and his arms became stones by his sides.

Great. Now he'd embarrassed himself.

The blonde - her name was Rose, right? -  didn't seem too upset though. She merely bit her lip, her shoulders shaking and a smile threatening to break across her face, trying in vain to contain the mirth that his expression had clearly caused her. She scooted a bit closer to him, causing him to scoot back, and then, with a gigantic grin, she pushed him off the bed.

"Ow! What was that for?" he narrowed his eyes in a weak glare as he rubbed his bottom, which he had incidentally fallen on top of.

She stared at him from the top of the bed, letting out high-pitched giggles she tried to contain with a hand pressed to her mouth. Unlike the black suit she had worn while in the forest, she was wearing light blue shorts and a white tank top, both baggy enough to be comfortable for pajama wear.

"You're going a bit fast" she chuckled, trying to stop laughing, her brows arching playfully "I can't even remember your name properly yet, you know. You tryin' to get to first base or something already?"

"I wasn't doing anything" he mumbled, his shoulders tense as he crossed his arms. It was more the surprise of having her in the same bed that had made him nervous, rather than him being particularly bothered by it "And I'm Yakko."

"Yakko. Right" it sounded like she stored it in her long-term memory, sitting up and turning in place so that she could let her legs dangle from the edge of the bed, still facing him "I remember you trying to become one with my side. That sure sounds like doing something."

"... I thought you were a pillow."

"Wouldn't be the first time."  

She shrugged, not looking upset in the least that he had accidentally invaded her personal space "I can count with both hands the amount of times Mary's drooled on me when we were younger" she shook her head fondly at the memory "I'm used to it."

"I can relate" he snorted, remembering his own experiences with being mistaken for a headrest. Wakko slept like a rock and wouldn't let go of him the first few times the three of them had slept in the same bed. Thankfully the studio had taken pity on him and given them bunkbeds.  

"I thought you would" she smiled as she let herself fall to the floor on her feet, pulling her arms over her head and stretching with a satisfied hum "Traditional sibling experiences and all that."

Now that he was a bit more awake, he noticed the room around him was very... barren. There were no personal items to be seen, only a bedside table, the ordinary ceiling fan, and the lone bed in the center of the room, stuck to the northeast wall. The floor was wooden, and the walls were a perfectly pearly white. There was an only door at the south of the room, a wooden cupboard beside it, and the only thing he could think was how hopelessly empty it was for a bedroom.

"This is your room?" he had thought that someone like Rose would have had a room full of accessories, or at least walls that had color. She didn't seem like the impersonal type, this was more something he would have expected from someone like StarDust.

"Yeah, I know, it's so empty it might as well be a hospital room" apparently she realized the state of her bedroom was odd, but didn't seem to care, her voice light as she walked over to the cupboard "It's not really supposed to have any decoration."

"But... it's your room, isn't it?" That didn't really make any sense. If it was her room, wouldn't she want it to reflect who she was? Make it a bit more personal?

"Of course it is. I just try not to get attached to it."

Ah, that put an idea in his head "Do you guys move a lot?"

She hummed, seemingly thinking her answer over. As she did so, she pulled out a turquoise dress from the cupboard, and he suddenly realized he was wearing borrowed clothes. A quick look down at himself told him it must be a pair of Marilyn's pajamas, seeing as she was his same height and only a little burlier than he was. Didn't change the fact that it was just a plain white shirt and pajama pants though, he couldn't go out like this.

"We don't really do it often, we just have to be ready to move if we need to. Meaning no unnecessary decoration and no getting too attached to a location" Rose finally answered, wordlessly handing him folded clothes that he immediately recognized as the ones he'd been wearing the day before. Had they laundered them? What time was it if they were already dry and in Rose's cupboard? "By the way, you should get dressed. We have somewhere we need to go and we don't want to have to come back too late."

He was about to ask where the bathroom was so he could change, but instead, Rose wordlessly went to the door, her own clothes in hand, and only announced that she would wait for him "down the corridor, you'll know where to go" before closing it behind her. It left him alone in the white room, with only his thoughts and the voice's constant presence as company.

He eyed the walls nervously, an itch starting to appear down his arms.

\-- ... Dress quickly so we can get out of here, yeah? --

It didn't need to tell him twice.

In record time he was ready to go wherever it was Rose was planning on taking him, opening the door and closing it behind him with no small amount of urgency. Outside the plain room was an even duller corridor which, as he walked along it, he saw it was filled with several oak doors that must've lead to different rooms. A few doors were open and as he passed them, Yakko could get a glimpse of what looked like a gym, then what seemed like an infirmary, and one room full of machines he couldn't name at first glance.

This place certainly didn't look like a house.  

He didn't let it bother him too much however, since, like she told him she would be, Rose was standing near the end of the corridor waiting for him. She slid off her comfortable position leaning against the wall at the sight of him, and motioned with a hand for him to follow.

As they kept walking however, the silence around them was starting to unnerve him. He couldn't help but notice the absence of two very distinct voices he should have been hearing for a while now. 

"So… Where are my siblings?" 

Rose didn't seem to notice, or perhaps didn't care to notice, the anxious way he asked the question, shrugging like it was no big deal. Her answer held the same amount of disinterest. 

"The kids with you? They went out hours ago with Mary and Star." 

\-- _What?_ \-- 

"… Hours. Alone. With essentially strangers." 

He had gone through 48 hours with several almost-heart attacks to add to his collection. This added one more.  

A _massive_ one. 

"Woah, relax! No need to panic" she held her hands up in peace, but she rose an eyebrow at his worry "There's nothing to be scared of. We're basically part of the police force, who could you trust more than us?" 

 Did she simply not understand social norms? Their profession mattered little when it came to trust… specially in human territory. More often than not, you _couldn't_ trust the police. 

"I've just met you three, of course I'm not going to let my little brother and sister go alone with them!" 

Why his siblings went along with it wasn't exactly a mystery. After all, they were in an entirely new place and even he couldn't wait to see what was out there. However, they should have paid more attention to the fact that yeah, these three were pretty nice, but they couldn't be sure they wouldn't hurt them yet. He wouldn't have minded if they all went exploring WarnerStock together, even with the three Milers sisters, but he would never agree with Wakko and Dot going out without him. Especially with two girls he didn't know if he could trust. 

And if he couldn't trust them with his life, he definitely wasn't trusting them with his siblings'. 

He was ready to run out of the room in search for them, a couple hours' distance be damned. 

Rose didn't seem to understand his dilemma. She only tilted her head to the side in a show of confusion "This must be a case of different cultures, 'cos it's perfectly normal for warners of those ages to go around with whomever they want." 

He stopped his almost-dash out the door "... Even though they're children? Even though you guys are strangers?" 

"The age of ten is pretty much puberty for us. They're teens" she shrugged "They're already of age to go walking around without supervision. At sixteen you're already an adult, so… It isn't that much different from you being alone here with me right now." 

She sent him an amused smile, to which he could only stare in bewilderment. So he was an adult? What? 

\-- Yeah, because someone who drinks a gallon of milk by accident when they know they're lactose intolerant totally sounds like an adult. -- 

The voice drawled, and Yakko could feel a small part of him want to punch it for making him remember the horrible experience. 

Rose snorted at his apparent frustration "It's really not a big deal. It's not like they went very far anyway." 

"So you do know where they are" he followed her to the end of the hallway, feeling a bit more calm since she was agreeing so easily to his requests. 

Rose answered his earlier question "It's the same place I was planning to take you to. I tried to wake you up for us to go with them, but you were being stubborn and wouldn't budge. So I just told them to go without us." 

Oh. Now he felt a bit guilty for freaking out. 

Instead of apologizing though, he chose to continue walking next to Rose. She led him in silence till they reached a big square living room. He inspected the surroundings curiously, taking in the heater at the very corner of the creamy-white room, the big red couch with a few other green armchairs at its side that contrasted weirdly with the calm color of the walls, and the normal kitchenette at the other corner that held a big rectangle oak table for at least eight people.  

"It's a nice place" he said as he turned his head left and right "Have you guys lived here long?" 

Rose bit her lip as she walked faster. They reached another corridor that was much shorter and didn't have any rooms this time "For a few years, yes. Though we try not to stick around much." 

"Huh" it looked like it was prepared to house more than just the three sisters "Why?" 

"Do you always ask so many questions?" 

"I'm a curious person by nature." 

The blonde gave him a wry smile "Oh, really. I didn't know that 'curious' was the same as 'nosy'."  

He felt a bit offended by that, of course he needed information from these three strangers if they were going to essentially be living with them until something else could be arranged for them "Hey, the one being nosy was you, not me." 

She looked back at him in a deadpan "I thought we'd made the reasons for that clear. I had to make sure you weren't a spy." 

"Well I have to make sure you aren't some crazy psychopath luring us out here to kill us." 

Did that sound plausible? He thought it was plausible. 'Always consider the worst case scenario in order to be ready for it' was pretty much his motto. 

"You've been… excessively suspicious of us so far" Rose looked at him with a weird face "You sure you're okay? You seem very paranoid. I mean, I thought you understood why I had to, uh, point a gun at your head. Like I said, we're not going to hurt you." 

"I'm fine" he sniffed. This was how he usually was, after all. The only thing wrong with him was that he might have a cold from running in the rain for so long "I do get it, I just don't trust people easily. Selfless kindness is rare in this world." 

"... That's something I can't argue against" she sighed, stopping after taking two more steps. 

Yakko, who had kept his gaze on Rose from the moment they had started going through the short hallway, turned his head to look ahead and almost jumped at the unexpected sight in front of him. Instead of a wooden door, like a normal house, this odd place had a garage-like metal plate against the wall holding the exit. 

Rose didn't even bother to explain what that was doing there "I see that you've already been hardened by the cruelty of the world, rookie." 

Yakko looked at her with risen brows. Rookie? 

"Though it is sad that your childish naivety has already disappeared, this will help you in the long run. No matter how much it shrouds you in darkness, to know cruelty is to know how to fight against it." 

"That's oddly poetic... and depressing" he frowned at her. 

She gave him a small smile "It's something my big sister told me once. She's a big fan of proverbs. It was kind of silly at the time, but it did sort of help me accept my instinctual distrust of new people. So, since it looks like you have the same problem… now I'm saying it to you." 

\-- That's sorta nice of her, saying you two have something in common. Though it's something sad to have in common. -- 

"Thank you, I guess?" he understood what she meant. The thing was that it made him wonder... When _had_ he experienced cruelty? He'd been suspicious of people for as long as he could remember. 

He had learned cruelty at some point in his past and he couldn't remember it. That was pretty unsettling. 

"You're welcome" ignorant to his worry, Rose replied cheerily in a way that reminded him of Marilyn and her always-sunny personality "Now, let's get this open." 

She clapped her hands together and walked over to a keypad next to the metal panel, punching keys in a specific order that Yakko was sure was a code. In just a moment, there was a soft whirring sound and Rose stepped back to stand next to him again. 

They both watched as the metal moved up, in the exact same manner as a garage door. Yakko could see how at the very bottom of it, some light was leaking through that made the artificial light they had in there seem useless.  

"You've only seen human cities before, right?" Rose asked as she stared at the metal go up and up. Her face was lit up in a huge grin "Prepare yourself to be amazed." 

Just those few words were enough to make a spark of interest light up in his stomach. 

Okay, so maybe he had been left without a home. Maybe he'd had to run through a forest late at night with guns being pointed at him and rain falling on him. Maybe he'd felt extremely anxious these last two days. Maybe he'd been scared, tired, and paranoid. 

But the thought that he'd be seeing new sights, meeting new people, learning new things- It was all just so exciting it sort of made him forget the horrors of the night before. WarnerStock's rules were probably bass ackwards to him, but to these people it was normal. Who knew what other things were different. 

It was a new day and a new life. 

"I can tell you're excited" she gave him a humorous smile and he noticed he had been unconsciously bouncing on his feet. He stopped that immediately because it made him look like a total dork. 

\-- You _are_ a total dork, you're not fooling anyone. -- 

\- Oh shut up. - 

\-- It's adorable. -- 

\- _Shush._ - 

The voice chuckled and he could feel his cheeks coloring slightly, so he frowned and tried to rub his face to make it go away. 

Stupid voice and its stupid need to embarrass him. What kind of kick did it get from humiliating him? 

"Aw, you're blushing. That's cute" was Rose teaming up with the voice? 

"... It's just hot in here" he grumbled in protest, trying not to pay attention to the blonde's need to comment that he was 'like a fluffy bear, only a lot skinnier', as she poked his cheek and only made it a redder color. He crossed his arms and tried his best not to pout.  

While they had been bantering, the garage metal door had almost gotten high enough for him to properly see under it. The light was stronger now, and he came up with the perfect mental picture of a beautiful sunny day without any dark clouds in the sky and of vast fields of flowers of all colors. He imagined falling onto the grass and looking up at the small clouds that had different shapes. He imagined being able to draw that landscape. Not that he was very good at art, but it was something he enjoyed. 

The door went up completely and... 

There was no field. There were no flowers. There was no sunny day. 

In fact, there was no sky. There was a tunnel with a bright light at the very end. Instead of flowers, there were boulders scattered around the tunnel. All around them was dirt. 

He didn't think he could be any more disappointed. 

Yakko stared for a whole minute before Rose took him by the hand and ran forward, whispering 'come on!' excitedly. He didn't even get to ask why the hell they were in a tunnel, because when they reached the bright light he noticed the source of it was a flashlight that illuminated the path. The tunnel was a dead end. 

"Okay, what am I missing" he shook his head, confused, and beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic "There's nothing to be amazed about here." 

"You're not supposed to be amazed yet" Rose rolled her eyes, saying it was obvious "Just let me..." 

She punched a few more keys on a new panel and suddenly what he had supposed was a dead end rumbled and a big circle of dirt rolled to the side, no doubt by a mechanism. In just a moment, the path was open and Rose stuck her head outside, looked left and right, and jumped out. Then, he saw her hand from the opening, motioning for him to go to her. 

He breathed in and jumped out. His feet touched grass. 

And there was the sky, a beautiful blue to contrast the dark clouds he'd seen the day before. He was standing on a wide field, several flowers sticking up from the grass, a few fruit trees around them. The field extended for as long as he could see, and there were a few shadows in the distance that he supposed were buildings. He turned his head to look behind himself and saw that they had been inside a mountain. 

Rose ran ahead a few steps and put her hands up to the sky, taking a big gulp of air and smiling big as Yakko heard the hole in the mountain close itself by the same mechanism as before. 

Her eyes were shining and so were his. 

He'd only seen cities, cars and smog before, but this... 

This was what he'd been excited about. 

Rose laughed. 

"Welcome to WarnerStock."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I really need to say this, but just in case:
> 
> When you see this "- A sentence. -" you're seeing the thoughts of the character whose current POV it is.  
> When you see this "-- A sentence. --" you're seeing the voice's dialogue.


	4. Chapter 4

"So we have to cross this gigantic field every day to get to town?"

"Yep."

In front of the mountain they'd gotten out of were miles of plain green, a few trees scattered here and there. The view was refreshing when he considered the bland grey of the city he'd been subjected to before, but after a while of seeing nothing but grass, it started to get boring. 

Yakko groaned, moving his legs, which felt like stone, slowly in front of him. It took all his willpower not to raise his arms up to the sky and shout 'why God?!'. 

Instead of asking God, who would no doubt respond by throwing a lightning bolt at him because apparently God hated him, he questioned Rose. 

"Why on Earth do you guys live so far away from normal civilization?"

The blonde crossed her arms and merely smirked at him "If it bothers you so much you can go back." 

That was a terrible idea because: a) he'd already crossed the damn field, and b) he still needed to find his siblings. 

He sighed deeply through his nose, trying to stop the imminent shouts of frustration. Even with all his willpower, he could still not contain the annoyed glare he sent to Rose "I'll just keep my unresponsive legs moving." 

She grinned mockingly at him and patted his back once roughly for that "That's the spirit." 

There had to be at least a few miles from 'the base' to town, and to be honest, Yakko hadn't thought his tired body could take the trip. They had reached WarnerStock at sunrise the day before, and he would say that he had woken up by midday at most. Meaning: he had barely slept, and his legs hadn't felt like walking before resting for, at least, four more hours. At least he was clean from the shower he'd taken before going to sleep. 

Since he hadn't had much of a choice, to distract himself, he'd tried asking Rose more about that place they'd been in and what she and her sisters did for a living. She hadn't told him much, but he learned that what he'd originally thought to be a house was actually a base. He didn't know what the base was used for, but it was a start. Well, being "part of the police force" as Rose had described them meant that it was probably a government secret of some kind, but he could only guess with the limited information he'd been given.

Currently, they were standing in the middle of WarnerStock's market, which was inside Artemis, one of the three towns in the small country. The three towns were named after their most beloved Greek goddesses. They were called the "triple A"s; Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis. Incidentally, Rose had told him the current queen's name was Athena as well. 

\- Athena, the goddess of war... - 

When he'd asked Rose about it, she had only stared at him and muttered under her breath that she wouldn't be surprised if they went to war soon. She'd sounded particularly bitter about it, her feet stomping as she walked, so he had tried to keep quiet about the subject from that moment on. 

He wondered how bad a state WarnerStock had to be in to be in danger of a war, walking next to Rose through the market. The place was crawling with people- er, warners - browsing through vegetables, meat, fruits and other produce. Blonde, brunette, red-headed warners, even some with their hair dyed, walking around without stopping in their tracks to stare at him and scream. Because here, he was normal. Their eyes did seem to linger a bit on him, but they looked away after a bit and he chalked it off to them being confused at how he was taking everything in with wide eyes. 

He couldn't describe the feeling of relief that passed through him as he walked around. For the first time, he wasn't persecuted, he didn't need to hide himself. He, in a way, belonged. Sure, the studio staff had gotten used to them relatively quickly, but they'd been considered more attractions than employees. Pets, rather than people.

His shoulders relaxed a bit. He didn't feel quite as desperate to find his brother and sister anymore. They weren't in any danger, right? StarDust and Marilyn were with them, and surely others of their race would keep an eye on them, would help if something bad were to happen.

It was amazing what feeling like part of a group would do to your outlook of everything around you. It made him feel secure.

"Do you feel better now?" Rose looked at him from the corner of her eye, grabbing an apple from a stand and flipping what looked like a gold coin from her pocket onto the waiting hands of the fruit merchant. The man gave her a small smile and pocketed the coin before resuming his task of cleaning the wooden stand. 

He wondered if Rose was hungry, but instead of eating the apple, she extended it to him with an expectant face. 

He accepted the fruit with a 'thank you' and his mouth contorted in a small smile. 

"Yeah, much better. I'm not normally this comfortable in crowds, but then again, before I had to hide from humans." They'd snuck off the lot quite a few times, but he'd been a nervous wreck every time. With faces like theirs, pretending to be human was almost impossible. 

The blonde nodded at him in understanding "Makes a world of difference to be amongst your own, doesn't it?" 

He shrugged, taking a bite of the apple. He could feel Rose scrutinizing him with her gaze, as if analyzing him for strengths and weaknesses. Surprisingly, he didn't feel bothered by this. 

"It's alright. Will probably feel better once I adjust." 

Rose hummed and elbowed him playfully "So you are thinking of staying?" 

He smirked and elbowed her back "Maybe." 

He was debating it still. Well, he was sure they would stay in WarnerStock, because as previously stated they didn't have any other choice, but rather he was debating about whether staying with the Milers was a good idea. If he was being honest, he would be much more comfortable being guided through this new society instead of having to explore it alone, but that didn't mean he trusted the blondes enough to live with them. He was slowly beginning to warm up to them (Rose mostly, he'd have to spend more time with the other two) but he was still skeptical. Two days weren't enough to get to know the people you would live with after all. 

"That gives me so much hope" she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes "I guess I can tell you a bit more now that I know you're not spies. Would that make you trust us a bit more?"

He perked up at that, his ears raised in interest. 

"It would help." 

"Okay then. I'll tell you..." 

She smiled as if she was about to tell him an incredible secret. He leaned closer to her with his eyes wide open and ready to listen- 

"... Once we reach the station." 

He visibly deflated "You're such a tease." 

She just grinned smugly at him "I know."

With a skip in her step, as if she was having the time of her life, Rose continued walking, dodging passing warners and staying two feet ahead of him. To his surprise, many turned their heads after having passed them to get a second look at the blonde, as if surprised to see her. He wondered what made them cast her another glance. Maybe it was because she looked so cheery, when everyone else seemed so glum. 

Actually… now that he was past the surprise of seeing all the warners, he noticed more about the market and the citizens in it. 

There weren't that many stands, especially for a town market. Most of the stands held only food, and there were many that had a plank in the middle saying it was closed in red paint. The warners selling looked mighty tired and depressed, counting the few gold coins they had as if they had been given lint. The buyers were not much better, taking out coins from their wallets as if they were about to give away a fortune, appearing physically pained to part with them. 

Yakko frowned when they passed by the only stand he'd seen that didn't sell actual food, instead it proclaimed to sell spices, and an old-looking woman looked mournfully as a man seemingly of the same age nailed the same plank that read "closed" onto their stand. Then, the man walked over to the woman with the same expression of sadness and put an arm around her shoulders. They walked away with empty hands. 

He felt his chest hurt in sympathy at the misery in their eyes. 

\-- ... This doesn't look like a nice place. I bet this has to do with the war Blondie was talking about. --

"Rose?" He called her in a small voice, terrifyingly sensitive to others' pain. She somehow heard him, stopping her happy hopping to walk, though she did so slower for him to catch up to her. 

"You noticed." 

The smile was gone from her face, her voice having dropped to a monotone. He chanced a glance at her face; her eyes were narrowed, full of a silent rage. Her mouth was a grimace and her shoulders were tense. 

"Yeah... Kind of hard to ignore" he gulped. Thankfully her anger wasn't directed at him, but it still made him nervous. 

They kept walking until there were barely any people around, down a darker street. They had left the market. 

There were no skyscrapers around, only houses and even huts, along with some shops. In the distance he could see a castle, standing tall and grey. The surroundings were actually quite humble, and he wouldn't have been too surprised if he were told he'd suddenly gone back in time to the Middle Ages. That seemed to be the general style of Artemis. 

Most of the ground was of cobblestone, and he didn't see any cars. The streets were too narrow for any large objects to pass through; at the most, two carriages could move through it at the same time. 

As they reached a huge stone staircase leading down in the middle of the road - he presumed either for a subway or a train - he couldn't take the intrigue anymore "Why's everything like this?" 

"Athena" she just hissed out between clenched teeth.

Then, Rose stopped in her tracks at the end of the staircase. Yakko tripped on the last few steps and almost fell on her. 

"Come on, we're taking the train" was all she said as she turned to the right and continued walking through a stone tunnel. He followed her, completely lost as to where they were going or where they were at the moment. 

The tunnel was crawling with the homeless and the poor, begging for money. Poverty didn't discriminate, the beggars were all of different ages. A few of them were even younger than his own brother and sister... 

A knot formed in his throat at the thought that he didn't even have a measly coin to give them. Without the three Milers' help, he and his siblings could very well end up living right there at the train station, dying of hunger and depending on the good will of passerbys. He was starting to think he didn't have much choice in staying with them either.

Suddenly, Rose grabbed his wrist and tugged him closer to her, looking down at the floor. He stared at her in surprise, but she only motioned for him to look down as well.

"Keep your head down and don't make eye contact with anyone."

She leaned toward him to whisper for him to walk faster, palming the pocket of her dress that was right underneath her belt for something. Logically, he found all this odd.

"Why? You..." she didn't have a phobia against homeless people, did she? 

Instead of looking ahead in disgust though, she turned her head left and right, as if searching for witnesses, and took a small sown sack out of her pocket. One of the warners ahead of them was wrapped in a blanket, only showing bright brown eyes, giving Rose an expectant look as they sat leaned against the wall. They extended a small black furred hand from under the fabric. 

Almost as if doing a shady deal, when Rose passed by the warner she dropped the sack in their extended hand inconspicuously, staring ahead as if she was doing nothing except walking. The warner instantly dragged their hand back under the blanket and looked around for anyone who might have seen, and gave Rose a quick nod she returned. The other warners all throughout the tunnel gave a small sigh and quieted their begging. 

Nobody else asked them for money. 

"What was that?" he asked, astonished, as he followed the blonde up another set of steps that led to the platform. She jumped the last few steps and walked to where people were waiting to board the train, not saying a word. 

Why was she suddenly mute? Had she given them smuggled goods? What in the hell had happened?

"Rose, what was that?" 

"Don't be so impatient, Yakko. I told you I'd explain a few more things in a bit, didn't I?" she didn't seem inclined to answer his questions at the moment. She preferred to stare at the ground in what looked like silent hatred. 

He bit his lip to keep himself from asking what she was so angry about, or, again, what had just happened. He hated being left in the dark about anything, but thankfully just at that moment, he heard the sound of a train approaching. 

Instead of spilling out words of worry and doubt, he asked something else. 

"Where are we going?"

"So now you decide to ask me. You know, for someone who questions things so much, you don't ask the important questions" her words weren't annoyed, merely thoughtful, as if she was just getting used to the way his mind worked. It sounded like she was changing the subject, rolling on the balls of her feet as she stared at the train, painted red, rushing down the tracks with the sound of one of those old trains that ran on coal. The black smoke coming out from it confirmed his suspicions. Apparently warners didn't have electric trains. [1997 were there electric trains???] 

"Sorry for being too focused on the poverty and you doing an odd deal with a homeless person to care about where we're going." 

She finally turned to look at him in a deadpan, only holding his sarcastic stare for a moment before she sighed and went back to staring at the train. The machine had started slowing down to reach the station. 

"It's… complicated."

The train came to a stop and the doors opened. Wait, didn't they have to buy tickets to get on?

Ignoring that rule he'd learned about in human territory, Rose jumped on and held out her hand for him to do the same. He was about to ask her if it was alright for them to go on, but he was interrupted. 

"You gonna get on any time this century, kid?" he heard the annoyed voice of the conductor, a warner man seemingly in his twenties that was giving him a withering look. Yakko almost laughed at the whole blue button-up uniform (complete with the little cap on his head) because it looked ridiculous on a warner, but he kept quiet so the man wouldn't shut the door in his face. 

He accepted Rose's hand, got on, and the conductor closed the door behind him. 

Although the engine of the train was old, the model looked to be of this century; the inside was clean and the seats were modern. There were many warners other than them boarding the train, most being left standing because there wasn't enough space. Curiously, they all made sure to leave three seats free. 

Rose didn't waste any time sitting down on one of the three free plastic blue seats, patting the one next to her in invitation as the engine began purring and the train moved forward. She still looked a bit angry, but he could tell she was trying to cool down for the sake of not shouting at someone for no reason at all. 

He was tempted to ask her if they were allowed to take those seats, but the blonde only looked at him like she was telling him to stop thinking so much, and he decided it didn't really matter. Also, his feet and legs were begging him to sit down. 

"Yo, Rose." 

The conductor from before leaned against one of the walls, staring at the both of them as Yakko sat down. The man looked him up and down in suspicion and turned back to the blond, his brown mustache flapping against his lips as he spoke. 

"This guy with you?"

"Relax, Nicolas. I already checked, he's not a spy."

Yakko felt a bit uncomfortable being talked about like he wasn't right there, but it was nice that Rose was standing up for him. Said blonde then leaned forward in her seat and put a hand to cup her mouth, as if not wanting him to hear a secret she would tell the conductor, a smirk on her face. She spoke loud enough so that Yakko could still hear anyway. 

"He's too stupid to evade the whole police force like that." 

"Hey!" 

He took back every single nice thing he'd ever thought about Rose. 

Nicolas chuckled, crossing his arms smugly, and Yakko already decided this guy was annoying "Always searching for fresh meat, aren't you? The kid looks like he'd shoot his eye out if you gave him a gun. "

Rose shrugged, a grin on her mouth "Probably, but that's what I train them for, isn't it?"

Yakko couldn't help but hang onto that sentence, confused as to what she was talking about "Train?"

Both warners turned their heads to him like he was the dumbest thing they'd ever seen. Rose in particular rose an eyebrow and smiled amusedly at him.

"Yes, Yakko. We're on a train." 

Nicolas turned his eyes to Rose, deadpanning "Not very bright, is he?"

Yakko facepalmed. 

"No, I mean what you said just now. Train who to use guns?" 

Rose's mouth threatened to break into a grin "Oh, so that's what you meant." 

He just rolled his eyes at her obvious amusement "Obviously." 

The warner with the funny moustache stared at him as Rose explained, his hand tapping at his thigh nervously. Yakko would've described the movement as him itching to attack. 

"We're searching for volunteers. My sisters and I train those volunteers for different activities- which I can't tell you about." 

"Come on, Rose. I'm not going to go spill the beans to anyone" he complained, annoyed at the lack of info. All this secrecy was making him think that there was something dangerous going on that he didn't want to be a part of, and unfortunately, he felt like he was already tangled in it. 

"How can you be so sure?" Nicolas kept his gaze locked on him, his eyes dark. He seemed to be judging him silently, his brown irises constantly eyeing his own black ones as if looking at poison. 

Yakko frowned, preparing himself to tell the guy to stop being a jerk, but Rose did it for him. 

"Nicolas, I told you back off." 

Her voice was low, commanding, and her eyes were piercing the warner where he stood. Yakko was a bit surprised when Nicolas growled lowly but didn't comment further, keeping his place and looking around the wagon. He'd abandoned the conversation. 

Then, as if nothing had ever soured her mood, Rose turned bright green eyes to him, giving him a calm smile that spooked him a bit, considering how she had sounded like the commander of an army a few moments before. 

"I know you won't rat us out, but I can't just go around telling anyone about what I do. If you really want to know, you'll have to take an oath."

"An oath to what?" Yakko confusedly looked around when everyone's eyes were suddenly on them, feeling as if he was in the middle of a conference, where Rose was the speaker and the others on the train were the listeners. 

The blonde seemingly ignored everyone's stares "Well, first of all, I'm going to tell you we're traveling so we can go find those kids of yours." 

She gave him a smirk when he realized he'd forgotten about it. He was so surprised by his inability to remember something so important that he blinked several times, his eyes wide. 

"Oh. Right." 

"There, I'm going to make a very important question to you three. I'll need your approval, mostly." 

Yakko nodded once, slowly, concerned about where this was going. 

She burrowed herself in the seat, making herself more comfortable, and cleared her throat as if to begin a tale. He could tell it wouldn't be a very happy 'tale', because her eyes became hooded and dark, intimidating him into silence. She looked painfully serious. 

"Second of all, there's a few things you should know before I tell you what's going on."

She started counting with her fingers as she talked, the wagon uncomfortably quiet, even with the sound of the train engine working. 

"One, if I don't tell you something, it's for a good reason. Two, everything we do is in good will. Three, this is like a silent contract; once you listen to this, you have to swear not to talk about it with anyone not "in the know", if you get what I mean. It doesn't matter whether you think it's right or wrong, you will not speak of this." 

Rose looked up to stare at him expectantly, and he felt like the whole mass of warners standing around him had their eyes on him too, urging him to give her a positive answer. 

"... Or else?" 

He didn't know why he'd asked. He hadn't been intending to talk about it anyway. Damn his smartass mouth. 

"Well, if you rat out our plans to the enemy..."

Rose's eyes narrowed and Yakko felt trapped. 

"I'll have to kill you." 

This was serious. This wasn't the girl telling him some gossip, or betraying the secret of the location of a clubhouse. This was classified-government-information serious.

"... Alright..." his consent was careful, keeping his eyes on Rose so as to ignore everyone else. 

Though her expression wasn't any better, it was less anxiety inducing than staring at the faceless drones all around him, staring at him with their soulless eyes. 

"You are absolutely sure?"

Just listening to what was going on couldn't be that bad, right?

"As sure as I'll ever be." 

Rose chanced a look to the crowd, and she received barely seen nods from a few of them, though others kept looking at him in distrust. They were all "in the know". They were all in on it. 

God, what has he gotten himself into?

"Perfect." She cleared her throat and put one of her hands forward, the back of her hand facing upwards, as she spoke what sounded like a chant to enter a cult. He hoped that wasn't what this was. 

"Do you swear to always protect thy neighbor, to keep WarnerStock at peace, and above all, to keep our secrets under lock and key?"

"I… don't know what to say to that." 

Rose broke her serious demeanor for a second to groan, grab his hand, and put it on top of hers, his palm touching the back of her hand. She lightly glared at him. 

"Just say you swear."

He shrugged "Swearing isn't very nice. Think of the poor children's ears." 

"Yakko" her tone was giving him a warning. 

"Geez, can't take a joke."

\-- I kindly suggest you stop being a smartass. Blondie looks ready to kill you. --

Rose's glare became darker, but Yakko rolled his eyes, trying to appear nonchalant. 

"Fine, I swear." 

In truth, he was borderline claustrophobic, feeling like the train wagon was becoming smaller and smaller the longer he spent in it with all this tension and all these people. The way Rose was looking at him didn't help, honestly. It only made him feel like he was in a room full of murderers and that he had no allies. 

The fact that the voice had chosen to speak up now, when it had mostly been silent throughout the day, only increased his feelings of worry. The voice wasn't speaking all the time, but it was always listening. It always warned him when things were about to go wrong, whether it be something stupid like the food starting to burn or something bigger. At the moment, its tone was rough, ready to fight if need be. Though Yakko didn't know how something that didn't have a body could fight anyone, it was worrisome that the voice was being cautious. 

He just didn't want to give Rose any more indication that he was weak. He had bared his worries and fears to her and her sisters while walking through the forbidden forest, and though he felt a bit lighter for having shared it, he had understood the moment he had said those words that he had made a mistake. He'd been too stressed from everything that had happened and he'd slipped. 

They knew he was emotionally weak. They could use that against him, and he couldn't let that happen. He had to make them think he'd just had a small moment of weakness and that he wasn't like that usually. 

He had to put up a strong aloof front. 

The blonde huffed at his words, but she accepted them nonetheless, letting go of his hand. As Yakko moved his hands to rest on his lap, he scooted himself as close to Rose as he could, trying to get away from everyone else. He might not want her to think he was weak, just in case, but he definitely trusted her more than he did these people. 

"Alright. I'll put my trust in you." 

The train suddenly started decreasing in velocity. Rose, who had been more than ready to begin his "initiation", paused and frowned "We're not supposed to get off yet. Why are we stopping?" 

Yakko felt something cold go down his spine when everyone, including Nicolas, went pale. The mustached man's crossed arms fell limp and useless at his sides, his eyes shakily turning to look at the door of the train.

One of them, shivering uncontrollably with their arms hugging their body, whispered "Pass watchers." 

There was a collective whimper and everyone started nervously patting their pockets, beads of sweat slipping down their hair and onto the fur of their faces. Rose only raised the cloth of her pocket a bit to check for something, and she did so calmly, though her shoulders were tenser than they had been before. 

There was a string of forceful knocks at the doors. Nicolas shivered and slowly moved from his perch against the wall to walk toward it, probably to open it for whomever was outside.

"Pass watchers? What're those?" Yakko asked Rose in a low voice, confused and worried when he saw that warners in uniforms with guns in their hands were waiting outside the wagon, biker-like helmets hiding their faces. Nicolas shook and moved out of the way as they got on.

"They're part of Athena's special police force. Since she's always searching for spies, they come on the trains and ask everyone for their passport" Rose's low whisper answered him, patting his shoulder as if saying "don't worry", but instead of being relieved, Yakko felt his heart beat faster in panic. 

He didn't have a passport. He was an outsider. His siblings didn't have any either, oh God- 

"Yakko, I've got it covered. You think I didn't anticipate this?"

The blonde smiled at him and took out a small, thin, hard covered blue book as the armed officers took a few people outside and others checked some passports. One of them walked toward them and Yakko reminded himself to act natural, even if he felt like a wreck on the inside. 

"Passports." 

The gruff voice that came out of the uniformed warner almost made him jump, mostly because the helmet he was wearing, covering his whole face, made it hard to anticipate the moment the man would speak. Yakko only bit his lip to stop himself from saying something incriminating as Rose showed the officer her passport, watching intently as the warner looked through it for a second and gave it back to the blonde. Then, when the officer turned his covered head to stare at him, Yakko gulped and looked nervously between the girl and the man. 

"He's with me. Just got out of his parent's house and didn't get the chance to make a passport yet" Rose spoke with a big confident smile as she put her arm around Yakko's shoulders as one would a longtime friend. He flinched at the contact. 

He almost let out a "The hell? You think that's going to work?" and wondered what his chances of getting out of the train without being killed were; but that wasn't necessary. 

"You understand the situation... Don't you?"

Rose's eyes went from wide and cheery to hooded, looking at the man much like she'd stared at Yakko when he'd been joking around. She was warning him against making a fuss. 

The officer only stared for a few more seconds before he nodded in understanding, and only replied by saying that Yakko better get his passport soon or next time he'd be "shot fulla holes", walking away. When everyone who had been led outside was allowed back on the train and the officers left, everyone let out a relieved sigh and Nicolas closed the train door as if they were keeping themselves safe from monsters that roamed outside. 

Yakko was so relieved he practically melted in his seat when the tension left his body. 

These people would be the death of him. 

"See? Nothing to worry about." 

Everyone got back in place and the train began moving again. He was frankly surprised by how quick that had been; considering how everyone had reacted, he'd thought it would be worse. 

"Any particular reason why they let such a suspicious thing go just like that?" 

Rose smirked at him, grabbing her passport and waving it in front of his face, like that would magically prove something. Yakko only looked at her with an exasperated expression until he realized that there was a small crown-shaped stamp on the very top of the cover. When he looked around them, he saw that the passports that everyone else was putting back in their pockets or purses were red. 

"So your passport is special, is that it?" 

"Precisely. I get privileges."

"Why?" 

"Because," Rose smiled "I'm one of the princesses." 

…

"Wait, what?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was nice to have Yakko acting a bit like himself for once, but don't get used to it haha... The poor kid's gonna be so broken by the end of this story.
> 
> Also! I'm going to be uploading drawings for this and other future stories to my art blog on tumblr. You can find me at "cramping-sugar-hands"

"... A princess."

"Uh-huh."

He had almost been shot by a  _princess_ , he'd accidentally invaded the personal space of a  _princess_ , he'd bantered with a  _princess_ , he'd questioned a  _princess_ time and time again-

"Hey, I see smoke coming out of your head there. If you think too much, your brain will fry" she waved her hand in front of his face to snap him out of it, her eyes a tiny bit worried.

When he shook his head a bit to get rid of the useless thoughts, Rose smiled at him with an eyebrow raised "You don't have to worry about me being a princess. Seriously. Even if the power helps our cause, it's more an insult than an honor with how things are right now."

Their cause- Right, he'd almost forgotten.

"You were going to tell me what's going on, weren't you?"

Rose smiled, the previous tense atmosphere somewhat dissolving "Yeah, I am. It's actually pretty important that you're informed, if you're going to accept my offer later."

Yakko made himself as comfortable as possible in his seat, only turning his head to peek at Nicolas, who had returned to his previous place leaning on the doors. However, the man looked pale as he placed a hand over his heart, inhaling and exhaling exaggeratedly in his honest opinion. Were the pass-watchers really that bad? Maybe Rose would explain a bit more about why everyone was so spooked by them.

The princess - it was weird to think of her as a princess, really - lightly told the mustached conductor to "calm down before you collapse, dumbass", and then the glorious exposition began.

"I guess I should explain from the very beginning, when our previous king was overthrown" Rose spoke, her face calm and collected, even though her eyes burned with ferocity "WarnerStock has had many kings over the years, all of them coming from the royal Warner family."

"Warner?" his voice was surprised "Like our species?"

Rose nodded "It's a very common surname. You'd be surprised how many warners actually have that last name, even though they're from different lineages. I guess our ancestors weren't very creative and just called all of them Warner. In later centuries, when new families came about, new surnames were invented. There certainly aren't the same amount of Warner's as there were before, but there are still a lot."

"Anyway, the royal Warner family has ruled WarnerStock for centuries, but they fell seven years ago."

He frowned. Well that explained why Rose and her sisters were princesses even though their surname was Milers "What happened?"

Rose clenched her fists, clearly angered by whatever she was about to say "There's been... a serious issue for a long time here, so long ago it started a few decades after we came above ground, which is to say, a long,  _long_  time ago. Kids disappear right under their parents' noses. It's always been the lower class, orphans, kids from poor families... Kids that might not be missed."

"The search for them has been going on for centuries, but all that was ever found were trails of blood where they're presumed to have been killed. No matter how much the royal family's soldiers searched, they never found them. To this day, nobody knows where their bodies are."

"It happened for so long... People got sick of waiting for results. The poor rebelled, started coming up with conspiracy theories that the monarchy was behind everything... My mother was one of those people."

The train continued moving through the tracks, the angry sound of the engine slightly muffling Rose's voice, as if it didn't want her to speak of such a horrible thing anymore. Yakko was both baffled and horrified, unprepared for this type of story. This was far worse than anything he had imagined.

Rose continued, trying to keep the emotions rumbling inside of her bottled up "My mother Athena, who had been a farmer at the time, along with several other lower-class warners, decided to take the king down. They managed it, obviously. Athena took full responsibility for the revolution and put herself on the throne. Needless to say, people quickly realized that Athena wasn't exactly the best queen."

"The prices spiked and the wages dropped. Most of our small population is starving. There is a very small amount of middle-class, and the higher-class practically doesn't exist. Athena holds all the money, and started to ration seeds for farming."

Again, Yakko felt infuriated. He wasn't even from this kingdom and he felt betrayed. How exactly were they all holding on? It almost sounded like the queen was purposefully killing them.

"What's she doing with it all? She can't hold it in a vault-"

Rose interrupted him through clenched teeth "You'd be surprised. She's terrified of being taken down like our previous king was, so she's keeping them weak and penny-less so that they can't rise against her, or that's our best guess. She doesn't exactly share much with us."

He felt a fire of indignation alight in his stomach, and he opened his mouth to at least mutter an insult to the monarch, but then he remembered with wide eyes that this woman was Rose's mother. He couldn't curse her existence with her daughter right there.

She smiled softly, her eyes sad "You don't have to hold back, you know. I've already cursed her to hell and back for most of my life."

Yakko couldn't imagine himself cursing his parents if he had known them, but he could perfectly understand where Rose was coming from. Instead of accepting her offer however, he continued in a soft voice "So Athena is making the people of WarnerStock suffer... and I assume this is where you and your sisters come into play?"

Rose surprisingly smiled at him for catching on, showing her perfect pearly white teeth "Exactly. We've been working on making a group to go against her for a few years, but so far the only people really working are the three of us. Everyone else who is trustworthy are in on it, but they can't stop their jobs or else the economy will get even worse and they won't have enough to eat."

Yakko was slowly piecing together what Rose was going to ask of his siblings and him... but for now, he gave the girl a tired and annoyed expression.

"You said this place had plenty of jobs and food."

Rose waved her hand dismissively, as if telling him it really wasn't an important detail "I said having three more mouths to feed wouldn't be a problem, and I didn't lie. It's not a problem  _for us_ , being princesses and all" still, she seemed slightly abashed, lowering her head and briefly staring at the ground "... You have to understand, we're kind of... really desperate. I promise I've been telling the truth about everything else."

Yakko wanted to roll his eyes, but he felt too much sympathy to do that "... Fine. I'll try to trust you."

Even though she had seemed perfectly calm and collected, Rose let out a small sigh of relief at his words.

"Okay. Great."

Eager to get back on topic, Yakko continued the onslaught of questions "What is it you guys do exactly?"

Rose's face brightened, as if she would be delighted to tell him every single detail about her work. Such enthusiasm admittedly brought a smile to his face "We do all kinds of things. We mostly help people around WarnerStock like I initially told you, stopping petty crimes and all that, but we also periodically take money from the vaults and distribute it to the poor, which is what happened earlier at the station."

Ah, so she  _had_  given that person money.

"So you guys are like Robin Hood" after he said it he realized she probably didn't even know who Robin Hood was, but she surprised him by letting out a startled laugh and shaking her head. Maybe they still had some clue about human culture even closed off from the world like they were.

"You're giving us too much credit" her smiled turned sad, hopeless. She clearly wished she could do more "Since it's just three of us, it's not like we can help much. Sure, we have plans up our sleeves and thought up a way to take down Athena, but we can't manage any of that with our low amount of personnel. We'd need more people to take her down."

"And everyone in WarnerStock is either homeless and weak or necessary to the economy?"

"... Yeah. You see our problem."

Surely, the three Milers couldn't go around recruiting people from the streets. They needed fighters, and warners who probably hadn't eaten in weeks weren't exactly going to be of much help. Had the warner population been larger, it wouldn't have been as troublesome to get recruits, but as it was, there were too few people being fed by an even smaller amount of people, and losing even one of the precious workers could mean the absolute starvation of the whole race. No wonder they were having problems.

And Yakko understood why he and his siblings would be the perfect additions to the group. Not only were they healthy, but they weren't working on the economy, and if they were going to eat anyway they might as well make themselves useful. They were smart, they were sneaky, they were fast, they were hard workers. Also, it was beneficial to the three sisters that they had absolutely no idea how this society worked and that they pretty much had to rely on them if they wanted to survive in such a merciless country.

Rose had them in the palm of her hand.

Yet the girl wasn't telling him any of this outright. She knew that he knew, that he was smart enough to realize their situation was bleak from what he had seen of WarnerStock. Instead of forcing the reality of things down his throat though, she was trying to convince him to join them willingly with the sob story of WarnerStock and the need they had for recruits.

Yakko had to admit that in the helplessness of the situation he and his family were facing, Rose's silent pleas were working. It wasn't like they had any choice. They couldn't turn back, and staying alone in the declining economy was like asking for death. However, Yakko knew that if he were to accept the Milers' proposal to join the team, their lives would be in constant danger. They were going to help overthrow the monarchy, not do simple desk work.

So, they either died at the hands of humans, died at the hands of Athena's greed, or risked their lives with Rose, StarDust and Marilyn. It seemed like a pretty obvious, although horrifying, choice.

He had just asked the voice its opinion on the matter, but it wouldn't answer. Either it had as much of a clue as to what to do as he did, or it was too busy thinking things over and couldn't tell him anything yet. He was betting on the first one.

"... Hypothetically speaking, if we were to join this little group... What would we be doing, exactly?" he knew he was already giving Rose a flame of hope just by asking that, but Yakko, as worried and claustrophobic as he felt in such a situation where he had absolutely no other choice, couldn't feel bad about getting her hopes up. He might as well say yes right now and get it over with, he was just delaying the inevitable.

Like he had expected, Rose's eyes lit up like a child on Christmas as she explained "Oh, well, that would be a whole other thing. You see, first we would have to figure out what area you three are best at, then train you on that field and give you general knowledge you'll need for the line of work. It would take some time, but we would do some smaller missions while doing that to get you used to how things work, like delivering money in secret or going to buy some supplies. Simple stuff, really."

"Then, when the moment is right and we feel like you're ready, we would go do some actual work. Steal stuff, win over with favors the few warners that help Athena, the works. We would gradually move up the ladder, and when we have enough powerful allies and the nuisances have been dealt with... Then, we strike."

The princess' eyes narrowed as she let out a dark chuckle "Athena won't know what hit her. She has no idea the people working against her are her own daughters."

Yakko had a feeling he could grow to like Rose. She had this ferocious look in her eyes he could appreciate, and she had huge ambitions. Her faith in herself and her team was actually winning him over without even showing him anything that could ensure that there would be good results. As of yet, he had no reason to believe that Rose would lead them to anything other than an early demise, but she was making him believe her with just words. She sounded like she knew what she was doing.

Hell, what she was saying sounded rather fun, if dangerous. A bit of adventure every now and then was definitely his cup of tea, regardless of how wary he was. His only problem so far was that he would be exposing his younger siblings to such danger willingly. There... wasn't much he could do about that.

Ignoring the upsetting thought, he smiled "You sound very sure of yourself."

"I am. We've been at this for four years and so far nobody has ever even come close to catching us" her words held promise, but something else was tugging at his mind.

"You...  _do_  have a plan for what will happen to the kingdom once you take Athena down, right? Without some kind of ruler, WarnerStock will probably descend into chaos."

Rose suddenly became serious, but there was still a small smile tugging at her lips "I'm surprised you're thinking so far ahead, but such a mindset would definitely be a good addition to the group."

Honestly, he couldn't help but feel a bit of satisfaction at the praise.

"To answer your question though, yes, we do have a plan. It could take a long time to actually do it, so we'll need to work on that while we do our different missions."

"What did you have in mind?"

The blonde rose an eyebrow at his suspicious curiosity, but didn't say anything because she knew he didn't have any ulterior motives. If he was going to go through with this he should know what he was going to be dealing with, after all.

"Well, we were thinking of finding the previous king's children, if they're still alive. People are desperate enough that they'll take the kids, knowing they're blameless in whatever conspiracy they think the monarchy was on. We were mostly hoping to get the direct heir to the throne, Elias Warner, to rule WarnerStock. Unfortunately, nobody knows where he could be, and even if we were to go about finding the queen and have her rule instead, she's also missing. Hell, the king's own body was never found. There's a rumor going around that some crazy cultists took their bodies and burned them as 'revenge' for their children's murders, but I doubt that's true."

Yakko sighed and passed a hand through his hair in exasperation, although nothing really had to be done about this yet. What a mess "So we're searching for Wally. Multiple Wallys."

Rose's face scrunched up in confusion at the analogy "Who's Wally?"

Oh. So they didn't know  _everything_  about human culture. What exactly dictated what they had knowledge of and what they didn't? Importance?

Curious, but he was digressing "Nevermind, it's a popular human puzzle game."

\-- Hey, Yakko. --

Had he had the ability to hear the voice for a shorter amount of time, he would have jumped in surprise at the voice's sudden comment. As it was, he had known this thing for as long as he could remember and thus, he had come to expect it to say something whenever it wanted. He stayed perfectly still, no matter how startled he was.

\- What? -

\-- The pass watchers, she didn't volunteer information about that. --

"Oh yeah," he began saying after hearing the voice speak, suddenly remembering he was rather curious about that "What about the pass watchers? Why was everyone so afraid of them if they just came in to check their passports?"

"Right, you're probably pretty confused with how Nicolas almost passed out back there" Rose mused, taking a glance at the conductor "It's not the fact that they come to check the passports that gets everyone nervous. It's what they'll do if they think you're suspicious."

Shit, that sure sounded ominous "... What do they do?"

Nicolas, looking considerably less pale than he had been a few minutes before, spoke with a distressed frown on his face "They send you to prison. It's said that they'll torture you 'till death because they think you're hiding some kind of secret. Only sick bastards can be pass watchers."

Rose sighed when Yakko turned wide eyes to the conductor "Basically, even if you have no reason to be suspected, you can still end up being tortured in one of the prisons, or, well, so they say. The good thing is that the pass watchers have a predictable schedule- they usually just stop the train twice a day at specific times, and everyone makes sure to board their train at least an hour earlier or later... but recently they've changed the schedule and with the element of surprise, they could get anyone at any time. It's like being in a cage with a lion and waiting to see who it eats first."

"So we're... constantly in danger?" Yakko felt a shiver go down his spine, but Rose gave him a small smile that slightly calmed his fears.

"Don't be too worried, in the case that either you, your brother, or your sister have to go to one of the other towns you'll have a special passport with you, courtesy of the princesses. As long as you have those, nobody's going to get pulled out of it, much less you guys."

"But what about everyone else?" He knew he couldn't expect everyone to be saved, at least not yet, but he couldn't help but hope that something could be done.

As expected, Rose merely looked down and her ears lowered a bit in sadness "We can't be everywhere all the time. The only thing we can do is try to change how things are little by little, and fight for a brighter future."

"You're actually considering adding this snotty brat to your team?" Nicolas scoffed, crossing his arms, failing completely at reading the somber mood. Yakko felt his eye twitch in annoyance.

Okay, this guy was pissing him off, and he wasn't about to let anyone walk all over him. He still had his pride and nobody would trample it if he had anything to say about it. With that in mind, Yakko glared at the man, who looked surprised at his sudden change in demeanor.

"Funny how the guy insulting someone for no reason is calling me a brat. I'd say you're the one who needs to grow up, mister weird moustache."

"What-! I do  _not_  have a weird mustache!" Nicolas fumed, his face red from humiliation and fury as Rose snorted loudly next to him, hiding a smile behind her hand, an expression of mirth on her face "I don't!"

"Yes you do."

"I don't!"

Yakko smirked. Ah, here came the opportunity to put the skills he'd learned from the animated geniuses to the test.

"You do."

"Don't!"

"Do."

"Don't!"

"Don't."

"Do! Wait-"

Nicolas held a confused expression for a moment as Yakko grinned at him, relishing in the moment when the man yelled out a curse at him and pulled his hair in anger at the realization that he'd been fooled with.

"You just got Looney Tune'd" Yakko chuckled. Rose then slapped his back as she giggled and he couldn't help jumping slightly in surprise at the contact.

"I have no idea what you just said, haha, but watching Nicolas lose his shit is hilarious" the blonde still tried to keep her laughs quiet with a hand to her mouth, her other hand patting him on the back, though the pats were a lot softer than the first one.

Yakko still wanted to tell her not to touch him, but he was too concentrated on getting the funny mustached man angrier to care too much right at that moment.

"Don't laugh at me!" the man complained to Rose as he stomped his foot on the floor of the train, and Yakko only smiled sarcastically as Nicolas gave him more material to work with. What a baby.

"Now you're throwing a tantrum. Yup, I'm totally the child around here."

Rose practically started slipping from her seat she was laughing so hard, Nicolas looked about ready to slap him across the face, and a few warners on the train actually let out a few chuckles. Even the voice laughed.

\-- Hey, all those seemingly useless classes actually paid off; who knew you'd actually get to Looney Tune someone. Also, your timing was impeccable. --

He beamed at the praise.

\- Why thank you. -

\-- Heh... You're welcome. --

The air in the wagon became lighter now that the tense conversation had been replaced with humor, even though Nicolas was still fuming beside him. Yakko felt accomplished.

"Also-" He was about to give the guy a few more reasons to remember him as the most annoying being on Earth, but at that moment, the train decided to stop in its tracks.

"Oh thank Christ, if I had to put up with you for a second longer I would've lost my hair!" Nicolas quickly opened the door to the train as everyone began to step out, a loud voice in the intercom saying that they were getting off in the city of Aphrodite.

Rose stood up to follow the rest of the warners out, still trying to calm her giggles, and Yakko followed her reluctantly. He'd actually been having fun annoying the man.

While Rose jumped off onto the platform, Yakko stayed at the edge of the train.

Nicolas snarled at him "Get off you brat."

"I forgot to add that your hat is ugly."

"Off!"

With that, the angry conductor pushed him onto the platform and closed the doors, most likely hoping he would never have to see his mug again, and the train's engine gave a whistle as it signaled that it was going off.

"How rude, is that how they treat tourists around here?"

Rose snorted as Yakko stood up and dusted himself off, having landed bottom first onto the platform's floor when Robert had pushed him. He huffed at the harsh treatment, but wasn't too upset because he'd been victorious in the end.

"Don't pay too much attention to Nicolas. He's always an ass to the new recruits" the blonde sent him an amused smile and she made a gesture for him to follow her down the stone steps that would take them to the actual town.

"I will say you made the ride... interesting. I have a feeling it will be hard to get bored around you."

Yakko walked next to Rose on the gravel, his head held high at the compliment. Rose gave him a look that was probably telling him not to get too full of himself, but he pretended he didn't see it "Well, my job used to be to entertain people. I'd be upset if you got bored around me."

The conversation died and a comfortable silence bloomed from its ashes, following them along their trek through Aphrodite.

The city was, if he were to say it, pretty. While Artemis had a sort of Medieval motif, Aphrodite was built more like a French countryside town. The houses were still practically stuck to one another, but these were all made of brick and tile for the roof. The cobblestone ground and the narrow streets were still there, but in Aphrodite there were flowers and trees growing in practically every street they passed, making the town livelier when compared to Artemis.

"Let me guess, this is the more rich-people town."

"Look who guessed right again" Rose easily confirmed his suspicions, sliding her eyes to the right to catch the sight of a few warner children chasing each other and laughing in happiness as they played.

Yakko looked to his left and saw an older woman watering her front porch's plants, and when she caught sight of them, she waved with a smile. He gave a surprised wave back and turned his attention back to Rose.

"Everyone seems so much happier here. It's a little jarring."

The difference between the two towns was glaringly obvious, and yet after seeing how miserable the warners in Artemis were, to see even a few warners in Aphrodite looking so relaxed and happy was surprising. Surprising, but welcome.

"Aphrodite is the smallest town in WarnerStock, and also the one where most of the people are wealthy enough to survive. Next is Athena, the town where half of the population is healthy and the other half loiters around the streets. Finally, we have Artemis, which is the poorest town nowadays" Rose sighed, looking up at the sky as if remembering better times "Artemis used to be the richest town."

"And then the previous king was overthrown, huh?"

"Yeah..."

A strange sadness engulfed the air around them as they continued walking down the colorful street. Yakko smelt the scent of freshly baked bread from the bakery they passed, a smell that overpowered the scent of flowers that was around the town for a moment. His stomach growled in response, reminding him the only thing he had eaten that day was an apple, but he silenced it. Rose would probably treat them to a big dinner later, and if not, well, he wasn't the type that complained about being hungry when half the population was starving.

He heard music from a group of musicians playing in a small plaza they passed by. He also spotted a toy shop, where several warner children were pressing their tiny excited faces against the display window to see the new gadgets they could buy. He found it odd that some of the things he saw on display in a few shops looked incredibly technologically advanced, but other things had simply not been upgraded, like the train. He supposed that this society valued the advancements of different things, and didn't care for some others. Interesting.

\-- ... If you're done talking with Blondie here, I'd like to speak with you a bit. --

When the voice spoke, he only hummed curiously to question what it wanted. It had been quite chatty when he'd first woken up, but now that it was the afternoon it hadn't said much.

\-- You still think it's a good idea to stay here? --

Of course it would ask him about that.

\- We don't really have a choice. At least they're offering us shelter and food. -

\-- I know, but... --

\- You're still skeptical? If you thought up any other options I'm all ears. -

He was actually not being sarcastic about that, he was honestly open to any and all suggestions. He was also a little desperate to find his siblings a way out, despite how calmly he was trying to take the situation.

\-- We could try being on our own. --

\- We'd die in a week, you heard Rose. There isn't anyone crazy enough in this country to employ three kids with no experience. We don't even have skills. -

\-- You wouldn't need the job. --

\- Then what would we do? ... Are you suggesting we steal from people? -

An embarrassed pause.

\-- ... Well... --

\- Seriously, no. Aside from the obvious morality issue, we'd probably get caught. -

The voice answered with conviction.

\-- You wouldn't. I'd help you. --

-  _How_? You're just a voice, it's not like you can do anything. -

There was a beat of silence.

\-- I can do more than you think. --

What did it mean by that?

Yakko sighed. He probably shouldn't look too much into it; the voice just liked being cryptic every once in a while.

\- I can't bet on you when I barely know anything about you. -

This time the voice grumbled under its breath and Yakko could tell it, begrudgingly, agreed with him.

\-- ... Well, it's your choice in the end. And no matter what you choose, I'll always support you... Uh, just so you know. --

The voice sounded a bit bashful as it said that, and admittedly, the words brought a small smile to Yakko's face. No matter how harsh the world got, he knew he could always count on his siblings and on the voice. Even if it was just something that his subconscious had come up with, it was calming to know it was always with him.

He really hoped it would change its mind about not telling him its name. If he could call it something other than "the voice", that would make him feel like it was actually another person, like he actually had a friend that stuck with him through highs and lows.

"It's getting dark" Rose interrupted his thoughts as she came to a stop in the middle of the street, looking up at the sky. Yakko looked up as well to see that, indeed, the sun was setting.

"Are we there yet?"

"It's just around this corner."

Sure enough, she turned at the corner on the street, beckoning him with one hand before disappearing from view behind the house situated at the very end. Yakko quickly followed her, going to the next street- before stopping in place.

In front of him was a large black gate which's opening led to a narrow path with trees at the sides. There were tombstones all around the ground and a few flowers here and there.

It was a graveyard. Rose had taken him to a graveyard.

He opened his mouth to ask her  _why_ , but after thinking it through for a moment, he decided to close his mouth. He'd already learned that some questions were totally useless. If Rose was going to tell him at all then she'd do it on her own.

Instead of questioning why they were in such a dismal place, he followed her inside.

The princess dodged tombs as she walked, taking care not to step on any part of the rocks as a sign of respect for the dead. She also avoided the flowers, which Yakko supposed she just didn't want to trample. They made the graveyard creepily beautiful.

He followed in her steps through the grass, passing more tombstones than he could count. What unsettled him wasn't the fact that they were in a graveyard- The reason why he was creeped out was because he felt uncomfortably calm in the silence of the night... Or should he say, the silence of the dead.

It was already sunset, and he was tempted to ask Rose if they could turn back, mostly because he wanted to go back to bed, but also because he didn't want to be in a graveyard in the dark. However, he didn't say anything, merely continued to walk in her steps to the far end of the field.

Rose stopped in front of a big mausoleum, which looked like it belonged to a very important person. Upon looking at the inscription carved in the stone, the person turned out to be one "William Warner".

"This is the grave we had made for the previous king."

With a frown, he looked at her "But you said they never found the body."

In response, she gave him a smile and gestured to the huge tombstone, opening the gate to it "We use it for... other purposes."

Having said that, she entered it and beckoned him inside.

He did a double take at her "Uh..."

"Come on, we don't have all day."

Oh hell no, he was not about to go into a grave at night.

Yakko gave her a worried look as he shook his head, staring at the grave as if a zombie would open the door to the coffin he saw in there and attack Rose.

She wasn't being serious, was she?

The princess put a hand on her hip and let her weight rest on one of her legs, giving him a deadpan look in response.

She was serious.

"Are you more of a scaredy-cat than I imagined? I told you, there's no body, it's not like we're desecrating the dead. I wouldn't do that."

\-- You're not seriously going in there, are you? --

Rose rolled her eyes at his silence and turned around to face the coffin. She moved away from it so he could see that on the inside of it, and from there, he could see a set of stairs leading down into the dark unknown.

Once he had admired the interior of the coffin for a bit, she jerked her head to tell him to follow her.

Yakko sighed.

\- Apparently I am. -

The voice sighed with him.

\-- This is getting crazier by the second. --

Not having any other choice, he cautiously walked inside the mausoleum, only to jump when Rose closed the gate behind him.

"There better be something amazing down those stairs" he complained as he followed Rose into the coffin, and she closed the lid behind her, giving him a satisfied smirk as they walked downwards.

"If by something amazing you mean your brother and sister, then yes, there's two amazing things waiting down these stairs."

Yakko froze in the middle of the stone steps. Slowly, he turned his head around to stare at her with a horrified expression.

"You took my siblings to a graveyard and led them down a coffin!?"

Rose only groaned in annoyance and pushed him forward in response "I take it back, it's gonna be real annoying to have you around."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WarnerStock's kind of really fucked up, huh?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo heads up, I'm gonna be uploading all the chapters that I currently have on ff.net so I can catch up. Otherwise I'm never gonna do it cos I'm lazy lol

Yakko hadn't known what to expect when he had been led down a creepy staircase that seemingly had no end by a blond haired princess that was frankly too snarky to be royalty, but he definitely hadn't imagined he'd be in a cavern that had been remodeled to look like a fancy conference hall. The rock ground was covered in what looked like an expensive red carpet with golden trimmings at the corners, the walls had various paintings that Yakko had to guess had been stolen, and there where torches stuck to the walls of the cave illuminating the space. The back was too far for him to be able to see if there was an end to the cave, as the torches stopped at one point. In the very middle, there was a long wooden table that could fit at least fifty people, and Marilyn, StarDust and his siblings were sitting at it.

He could tell by a glance that Wakko and Dot wanted to jump to their feet and go greet him the moment they laid eyes on him, their expressions of both relief and happiness a dead giveaway, but something was keeping them in their place. Marilyn was giving them a soft but firm look, while StarDust was staring back at him and Rose, calculating, eyeing his movements.

His siblings didn't seem pleased at being stared down into their chairs, but Yakko knew them enough to be sure that they never followed orders unless they knew there was a good reason behind them. Rose hadn't told him why they had come here, so he was a bit nervous about what awaited him, but what worried him more than that was what the other two blondes had told his siblings, since they looked nervous themselves.

Something was up and he wasn't sure he liked it very much.

"Okay," he said once the silence had become too much for his ears "Spit it out. What are we doing here?"

"Simple," Rose replied, walking forward a few steps until she was in front of the table, turning to look back at him so that Yakko was on one side and everyone else was on another. He didn't like that either.

"We're here for three things. One, for you to decide whether you'll join us or not. Two, to test you in order to accept you into our group should you accept, and three... Well, we need to get a few things from here and get them back to base. Nothing too exciting about that last one."

\-- I'm telling you, I don't like this. I don't like  _them_. --

The voice was clearly distraught, but Yakko couldn't tell if it was on edge because the three girls didn't seem trustworthy, or if it was because it was just as paranoid as he was. Yakko usually listened to it, but this wasn't the time to think about whether he could trust them or not. This was the only road he could take, so why should he agonize over it?

\- Calm down, I'm sure they're nice people... I'm sure. -

\-- ... --

He was not sure, but with a deep breath he decided to at least listen to them because, in case you conveniently forgot, Yakko, Wakko and Dot were stuck with these three unless they wanted to starve in the streets.

"Alright" he shrugged, still trying to appear casual "Then, what do we do first?"

He could tell Rose noticed his change in demeanor from the time in the forest to now, since her eyes were silently asking him what he was playing at with his clearly uncomfortable casualness. It didn't seem very important to her though, because a moment later she was walking away from everyone else and toward him.

"What we'll do first... is give you a small test."

Yakko stared at her curiously as Rose stopped five feet away from him "I thought I had to agree to join before doing that."

The blonde merely chuckled at his words as she took a fighting stance; her feet were a shoulder-length away from each other, her hands fists when she raised them up to the sides of her face. Her tail wagged behind her as she gave him a challenging smirk.

"I for one thought I only needed you to confirm the fact that you'd be joining. You already made the oath. Besides..." she trailed off, rotating her shoulders once, her eyes a green inferno waiting to be challenged "I'm more interested in seeing how swift you are on your feet."

\-- ... Blondie wants to fight. --

Oh. Yakko realized with a start that the voice was right; Rose wanted to fight him. Like, really fight. Fight 'till one of them dropped to the ground, defeated and humiliated.

He was pretty sure he was going to be the one humiliated, but oh well, she did say this was a test. No shame in failing at something he'd never done before, right?

At least that's what he told himself. Surprisingly, he did still have a pride to bruise. It wasn't much, but it still existed.

"Okay then" he took a deep breath, trying to mimic her stance. He, frankly, was a bit scared of how hard her fists were clenched; she did look mighty strong, at least compared with how lanky he was "Just saying though, I've never actually sparred with anyone, so don't complain if I'm not a challenging opponent."

Rose laughed lightly, de-tensing a bit as if to reassure him this was a casual fight "Relax, I'm not asking you to beat me- though it'll certainly be more interesting if you try. I just want to see how well you'd do in a fight without any training whatsoever. If it's promising, then you'll already have a good base for us to build your skills on. If not, well, there's nothing to worry about, since I'll be teaching you how to fight anyway."

Wakko and Dot looked excited to see their brother fighting for some odd reason, but Yakko didn't question it too much, because he appreciated the support when they took to cheering for him. Marilyn laughed lightly at them and said that she wanted popcorn to go with the show, while StarDust shook her head and decided to explain the rules of the "sparring".

"The goal is usually to incapacitate your opponent, but as this is merely a test, try to keep your force to a minimum. We don't want either of you ending up in the infirmary. Punching, kicking, and throwing your partner to the ground counts. When one of you can't get up anymore the fight ends" the oldest Milers sister said, waiting for them to get ready so she could announce the start to the fight.

"Ready?"

Yakko kept his gaze trained on Rose, inspecting her more closely than he ever had since he'd met her. Aside from the sleeveless turquoise dress she was wearing, a belt much like his was wrapped around her waist, and the dress was held from her shoulders by three thin stripes of red cloth on each shoulder. On her neck, she had a light violet choker holding a star of David as a charm.

He hummed silently, wondering if she was Jewish.

"Set..."

Trying to get his mind back to topic, Yakko lightly shook his head and eyed her stance. Suddenly, he saw Rose's lips mouthing a 'good luck' to him before smiling and he was so surprised he almost didn't react when StarDust finally yelled:

"Go!"

Immediately, she sprung into action. Her feet gave a firm push from the floor, allowing her to use the boost to reach him, throwing the first punch directly to his chest. He had honestly not expected her to react so quickly; Rose was a sneaky devil, trying to distract him so he couldn't react accordingly.

However, if there was an ability he had that he was proud of, it was his reflexes.

He caught her punch into his palm, and used her surprise at having been grabbed to try and make her fall by sweeping his feet under her own. Instead of falling as expected though, Rose saw it coming and jumped over his attack, using the chance to take her fist out of his hand.

Just as she was landing though, he tried to throw his own punch- except he aimed it at her stomach.

In the middle of trying to land, Rose couldn't properly deflect his attack and got a fist in her stomach, though it was a rather light one, all things considered. Neither of them were really trying to hurt the other...

He hadn't taken into account the fact that, since his punch wouldn't really hurt Rose, she had the perfect chance for a counter-offensive. And that was exactly what she did.

Yakko really should have thought this through a bit more.

Swiftly, she grabbed at the arm he had used to attack her, kicked the leg he was putting most of his weight on, and jumped behind him just as he was falling to the ground, face first. As a result, he ended up on the ground with her knees on top of his back, both arms restrained by her hands.

He coughed weakly, trying to get Rose's hands off him, but all she did was hold onto him with more strength and lean over to give him a mocking smile.

And in that moment he realized what the true purpose of this exercise had been; a show of power. Of dominance. For as nice as Rose had been before, she didn't trust him just as much as he didn't trust her, and this was her saying that if he tried to betray them she could, and would, snap his neck  _easily_.

So much for making new friends.

"Match set!" StarDust called from her seat, her face completely impassive. Of course she had expected this.

\-- At least you tried -- the voice sounded a little upset, most likely because it'd figured out the same thing he had, but tried cheering him up anyway. It might have as well just said "there, there, you'll do better next time".

Yakko wanted to growl and tell it to shut the hell up, because he was already plenty embarrassed and annoyed without its help, but he didn't get to because immediately after that Wakko gave an excited shout of "That was awesome!"

Marilyn chuckled at his enthusiasm, while StarDust only sighed. He wondered if StarDust was always tired or if she was just not used to having such rowdy companions with her. Well, aside from Marilyn anyway.

"Our brother got his butt kicked in less than a minute, Wakko" Dot tutted at him, as if his exclamation would hurt Yakko's feelings. It didn't, really... Dot's words hurt his pride far more than Wakko's had.

"... It was still awesome" Wakko mumbled under his breath, giving his older brother a thumbs up and a big grin while Dot kept looking at him with a pout on her lips. Yakko only snorted because he couldn't return the thumbs up with his hands still restrained.

Speaking of which, why was Rose not off him yet?

He looked up at her with a glower, one that said "I know what this was about." Rose merely smiled wryly at him, animosity oozing from her tone.

"Let me enjoy my victory a bit more, will ya?"

He huffed, resigned to his fate by this point. His front hurt a bit from having been thrown to the ground, but the plush red carpet cushioned most of the fall. Rose wasn't very heavy on his back either. All in all, it wasn't... that bad. Aside from the light sting the aggressive declaration of power from Rose caused, he wouldn't be too upset if she kept him there for a few more minutes to rub it in. Nobody had actually expected him to win anyway.

"Guess I lose" he mumbled, letting his face fall onto the carpet.

Rose laughed at him, but his answer to being made fun of was cold indifference "Yup, but that was to be expected. You did pretty well for a beginner, if it makes you feel any better."

"No. It really doesn't" he snapped against the carpet, his words muffled because of it.

"Really though, "never done this before"?" she huffed, either not hearing his words or just ignoring them, easing off of him and extending a hand for him to grab. Even that gesture didn't seem that friendly anymore "I sincerely doubt that. You're fast as hell, for one, and if you hadn't been holding back on that punch to my stomach you might've been able to get the upper hand. Add a weapon and you could've won."

Yakko sat up and rotated his stiff shoulders a bit, giving Rose an unimpressed stare "Sure. I'm Rocky incarnate and I was just going easy on you, whatever" he pointedly ignored her hand completely and stood up by himself, frowning as he tried to brush the dust clinging to his pants from the carpet off.

A little bit of trampled pride would normally not leave him this pissy and snappish, but he did  _not_  like to be personally shown how helpless he actually was. He already  _knew_  he was backed into a corner from all sides, there was no reason to go around poking at an already raging fire of fear.

"I assume that's some kind of famous human fighter. And I wasn't being sarcastic, you were actually not bad at all" at least Rose did seem to notice that she'd gone a little too far as she slowly lowered her hand, looking to the side a little sheepishly. She'd probably not expected him to take it this hard, but then again she was just starting to get to know him.

"Yeah, okay" he replied coldly, turning to look at a fidgeting Rose "Can we move on?"

"You don't want to wallow in your loss a bit more?" she sent him an unsure, tentative smile, but when he only glared at her with genuine malice she let it go.

"O-Okay, we'll move on then."

Rose looked at StarDust and the oldest nodded once, slipping off her chair. When Marilyn saw her move she got off her chair as well.

"So… Let's get that confirmation out of the way first, yeah?" Rose turned to face him fully, becoming serious (though still seeming a bit awkward and apologetic) as Marilyn whispered something to his siblings so they'd stand up as well.

What was even the point in asking him, they already knew he had no choice just as much as he did. They already knew he was trapped, and had no way to loophole his way out of it.

Now that he was thinking about it, screw making new friends. They all end up backstabbing you anyway.

"Can I talk to my siblings about it first?" his voice warmed up a little as they walked hesitantly over to him, his cold stare to Rose turning into a caring a reassuring look as his eyes posed themselves on Wakko and Dot "This concerns them too."

They were a family, they worked together. He didn't make decisions by himself, even if they all had little choice in the matter. If they really hated it that much… he'd find something else. Somehow. He'd do the impossible for his siblings.

"... Sure. I get it. It's been a rough day" Rose nodded lightly and stepped a little further away from him, her whole posture still radiating regret. Whatever, he had other things that required his attention right now.

The moment she gave the okay and started to walk off the two flew over to him and envelopped him in a hug. Yakko hugged back with as much force as he dared, feeling his sour mood lifting into a relaxed sort of happiness. It really had been a rough day… They weren't used to being that far away from each other for that long.

"We'll start gathering supplies we're supposed to take back while you talk" Rose said as they separated, already walking further down the cave where there was a large cupboard StarDust was already inspecting "We're not in any hurry, so you can uh… take your time."

"Right... Thanks" he felt a bit of his anger dissipating when Rose smiled softly at him in response, but that didn't put her back on his good side just yet.

Rose stopped at the cupboard along with Marilyn and began taking some things out of the shelves. He could spy some guns and even some food they were putting in plastic bags, and he could only wonder how many things they would have to take back.

"Yakko?"

Shit, don't get distracted. His focus moved to the two small children in his arms when Dot called him softly "Yeah, sis?"

"... We don't really have a choice... Do we?"

His heart clenched with sadness so tightly in his chest that he almost gasped in pain.

Both their faces were crestfallen, staring up at him with sad black eyes, their little hands clutching at his green tank top tightly. Their fists were shaking a bit, their eyebrows furrowed in worry.

They understood perfectly what was going on, and they were  _scared_. He would fight a thousand soldiers with just his fists to keep that expression off their faces.

"Did they say that?" his words were both soft and angry as he took a glimpse at the three sisters, who were taking out more objects and putting the plastic bags full of things into three duffle bags on the table. If they had really said that then they would get a lot worse from him than just a few sarcastic and cold comments.

"No," Wakko interrupted, tugging gently at his wrist so his attention returned to them "They didn't. They gave us a history lesson about WarnerStock, mostly."

He hummed in agreement, his anger fading. So they had just told them a version of what Rose had told him. Granted, it still wasn't a very happy story, but they had the right to know what they were getting into.

"It was an easy guess. We can't go back and we can't stay in the forest so... We figured we have no choice" Dot continued, shuffling her feet. She looked completely put out.

"We just wanted to ask you what we'll do about it" Wakko was obviously trying to be a bit less affected, most likely for the sake of their sister. The youngest brother shrugged with as much nonchalance as he could fake, and then they both stared at him with expectant expressions, clearly begging him to tell them what the way out of this was.

"I..."

The words got stuck in his throat. He couldn't reassure them that everything would be alright. That was his job. He was supposed to make them feel safe and happy, was supposed to provide for them, give them a home, basic needs, security.

Yet he couldn't do any of that. He couldn't even keep them safe himself, he would have to rely on the three Milers for that, and even if he did choose the stupid route and tried to start from the ground up in WarnerStock… God, no matter what he chose, this was practically family suicide. Guardian of the year right here.

"I don't..." his voice threatened to wobble, but he couldn't show how bad the situation really was. When the people you rely on start panicking you will inevitably panic too "We…"

He just felt so useless.

\-- It's okay, calm down. --

\--  _Breathe_. --

Breathe.

\-- Come on, breathe with me. --

Count to ten.

\-- One… Two... Three… --

Pretending like he was thinking things through instead of having an internal panic attack, Yakko eventually calmed his racing heart enough to regard his siblings seriously "We're going to have to listen to them" he bit his lip as their eyebrows furrowed further "… I'm sorry I can't give you any other options but I… really don't know what else to do..."

He could be strong for them, but he couldn't lie. With his main issue being distrust, the three of them had come to the agreement that they would never lie to each other. They could… omit some details, but they couldn't lie. He couldn't stand having to doubt everyone constantly, so this agreement made him feel better about it.

"... Okay..." they both spoke quietly. He knew they appreciated his honesty and the fact that he was treating them as adults, but it didn't change the fact that their helplessness was depressing.

\-- Yakko... --

\- ... Yeah? -

He felt the voice frown slightly.

\-- I just wanted to say... You're not alone, okay? --

A small smile broke through his face. It made his siblings smile softly, sadly, back at him.

He felt the voice smile back, care and reassurance being transmitted to him.

\-- I know it's hard to realize sometimes but… Look at them. You're loved. And as long as you have that, everything will turn out okay. --

How did the voice know exactly what to say to make him feel better?

\- … You're amazing, you know that? -

If disembodied voices in his head could blush and gush gleefully at a comment, the voice would totally be doing that, letting out a small dorky, happy laugh and quieting as if in embarrassment. It only made it easier for Yakko to charge his smile with genuine joy and attempt positive thinking.

"I know it… kind of sucks, but we should cheer up, shouldn't we? Treat this like an adventure instead of a punishment."

Wakko and Dot looked up at him again, their expressions skeptical, but still listening "We won't be running into this blind… Rose said they would train us."

"Train?" they repeated like parrots, and he almost snorted at the fact that they had the exact same reaction he'd had.

"Yup. Right, Rose?" he turned his head over to the nearest blond, who was putting what looked like an AK-47 into one of the duffle bags on the table.

"Huh?" she looked up from the gun in her hands, her expression confused and guarded, most likely from hearing his voice when he was still mad at her. At least she hadn't been listening in on their conversation. That got her points for being a decent human- er, warner… being? Semantics were weird.

"I was just saying that you were going to be teach us how to do... whatever you need us to do" he gave her a meaningful look, hoping she understood that he needed to reassure his siblings somehow and that no matter how annoyed he may be with her, he needed her help.

"Ah" she blinked, getting the hint, and probably thinking this was a chance to redeem herself "Yeah, we'll teach you everything you need to know. We're not going to throw you into a mission unprepared."

"Have no fear, Teach is here. Until you're ready all you're gonna be doing is training" letting go of the gun, she gave them a smile and Yakko noticed that his siblings' shoulders seemed less tense than a few minutes before. Thankful, Yakko sent her a small smile, to which she nodded once in response.

"What'll you be teaching us?" Dot asked, her voice a bit more relaxed and curious.

Walking back from the cupboard with another gun in her hands, StarDust decided to answer the question "It won't be simple, but we will go slowly so that you can get acquainted with the way we do things. Rose is in charge of field training, Marilyn works with machinery, and I do medical procedures. We will all be training you in our different areas of expertise."

"You three will probably be best at one of these, and after knowing which one that is, one of us will be teaching you the advanced parts of our area" Marilyn added, a smile on her face as she put an old-looking book into another duffle bag that was next to the one Rose had been putting stuff into "Still, you need to know the basics for all three."

Rose nodded in agreement "You need to know at least hand-to-hand combat, how to pick a lock, how to treat a wound, and all that good stuff. You need to be able to work in any area in case the expert isn't there to help. What would you do if, in the middle of a mission, your partner is bleeding from a wound and the medic isn't there? If you don't know how to treat it, they'll die. That's why this is absolutely necessary."

Yakko found it rather convenient. Wakko liked how machines worked and had fixed some of his own toys a few times, while Dot was the only one in the family who knew how to properly use a medical kit. When it came to himself though... Could he really learn to fight properly?

He wasn't particularly gifted at anything- Rose had 'praised' his quickness, but that didn't mean much. He just hoped he wouldn't be a burden and would actually be able to do something.

"... There we go" Rose suddenly said, zipping up her bag and cleaning the sweat off her forehead. StarDust and Marilyn did the same with theirs.

"You're done?" he asked, just about ready to go back and sleep his worries away. Besides, who knew when the Milers would start to actually train them. He'd need all the energy and rest glue could get.

She nodded her head a few times, walking toward him "Yeah, we just had a lot of stuff to grab" with a tired sigh, she cracked her neck (making him flinch a little) and stopped a few steps away "So, you ready to confirm or do you need more time to think about it?"

The air became tense again.

Right... He still had to do that.

Yakko looked down at Wakko and Dot, silently asking them if they had their final answer, telling them with his eyes that there would be no going back once they said "yes". Dot gave a sure nod, while Wakko bit his lip and gave a slightly unsure nod. Well, he wouldn't complain. God knew he wasn't a hundred percent in for this either.

He opened his mouth to give Rose their answer, but just before the confirmation escaped his lips, he closed his mouth. Rose looked a bit miffed at him stopping right there, but he only ignored her for a moment to ask the last person whose opinion mattered to him.

\- What do you say? -

There was a moment of silence in which the voice seemed to think it over.

\-- Sure. Nothing else we can do, right? --

\-- If I can't make sure you aren't in any danger, I can at least protect you from getting hurt. It's not like the world is ending. --

Yakko smiled jokingly, internally, back at it.

\- What are you, my knight in shining armor? -

Laughter rang through his head.

\-- Maybe. --

\- Who's the conceited one again? -

\-- You, because you're still the queen of drama. --

\- And you're the king of drama. -

The voice's laugh only rang louder.

\-- Does that mean we're married? --

\- Pfft, you wish. -

The voice continued it's snickering as Yakko could only send waves of annoyed amusement at it.

\-- But that's what you implied, wasn't it? --

\- I'm not talking to you anymore, nerd. -

Yakko huffed indignantly and the voice laughed again.

\-- Okay. Talk to you later,  _honey_. --

It sniggered and he shook his head to clear his head of it, but couldn't help the smile on his face as he did so. The voice could really be a doofus when it wanted to be.

Getting back to the world outside his own head, he saw the expectant looks of the three sisters. He considered being a bit cruel and prolonging their tenseness, but he honestly didn't feel like it. He'd be mean another day, when the voice would somehow be unable to lift his mood.

"Yeah. Yeah, we've decided" he said, his voice convinced. Their relief was practically palpable.

"Great" Rose breathed a sigh, and then smiled at him "Then, your answer?"

Yakko only took a second to look at Wakko and Dot, who turned their eyes toward him as well. They only echoed his own doubt back at him.

He smiled back at Rose... only his was slightly crooked with worry.

"We'll join."

... Jeez, what had he gotten them into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The voice is both adorable, sweet and a twat, Rose gets too high on her already high horse, Yakko does not appreciate this at all, and the bbs are sad. I think that about sums up this chapter.
> 
> (In Rose's defense she was only being a little bitchy and mostly playful, Yakko just isn't close enough to her yet to look past the bitchy part)
> 
> On another note; I seriously love the voice, I wanna wrap it in a blanket burrito, kiss its forehead a bunch and cuddle with it. Anyone who doesn't like it can FITE ME. FIND ME IN THE PIT SCRUBS (jk but seriously if you have any constructive criticism toward any OC I invite you to tell me. Not only because I want to be a better writer but also because it'd be interesting to hear you guys' opinions on them. Just, uh, be gentle with me pls I really love my babies).


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter introduces what I call "Dream/Flashback Sequences". These are parts of the story that are either dreams or flashbacks, and you'll recognize them because they'll be entirely in italics. That said, I give you a new character: The Girl. You won't see much of her, but what happens with her is directly connected to the story, so don't write off what you see her in as delusional dreams.
> 
> This chapter isn't particularly intriguing. Yakko, Wakko and Dot basically tell you the routine they've been doing during the last two months with the Milers and give you an insight on what they think of each individual sister. Oh, but there are a few tidbits of information about Yakko before the story began, so don't even think of skipping it. It's important.
> 
> Also the voice is super cute and charming so why would you want to skip its dialogue.
> 
> I don't think the sequence at the beginning needs a warning, but uhhhhhh just in case there's a bit of blood, nothing too scary.

_The room is dark, utter blackness. He's sitting with his knees against his chest, his arms wrapped around himself._

_He's cold._

_He hears a door opening, but there's no light coming in from anywhere._

_He's hungry._

_The door closes, and he hears footsteps coming toward him._

_"Hey..."_

_The voice of a young girl resounds through the space. Her voice is high pitched. Scratchy, as if she isn't used to speaking much. Emotionless. Hopeless._

_Practically dead._

_"What are you afraid of?"_

_"..."_

_He doesn't answer her. She doesn't deserve an answer._

_He's so tired._

_"Is it death?"_

_He can't see her, but that's okay with him. He has a feeling her face is scary anyway._

_"Is it suffering?"_

_His form shakes. He doesn't know why he's shaking._

_He's scared._

_He won't admit that he's scared._

_He'll pretend he's fine._

**_E V E R Y T H I N G ' S  F I N E._ **

_"Is it losing those you love?"_

_There's a beeping sound resounding loudly in the distance, and suddenly, the presence of the girl disappears._

_But her voice continues talking from the endless darkness._

_"What do you fear? Come on, tell me."_

_He stands up on his bony ankles, looks around despite the lack of light._

_He can still hear the beeping, and he attempts to walk towards it._

_"Do you fear the dark?"_

_He stumbles and scrapes his arms._

_It hurts._

_"Do you fear the light, then?"_

_It hurts so much._

_"Do you fear heights?"_

_His arms are bleeding. **B L O O** **D**  trickles from millions of tiny holes on the inside of his forearms, dripping onto the floor._

_"Do you fear the sight of blood?"_

_It hurts... Stop it._

_"Do you fear enclosed spaces?"_

_Stop it._

_Deformed black arms slink toward him from the darkness. The beeping is so loud._

_Stop it stop it stop it stOP IT!_

_"Ah."_

_The voice of the girl giggles as he starts running toward the source of the beeping, dodging arms that try to grab him._

_Why is he trying to go to the beeping? He knows what awaits him if he reaches it._

_It was exactly what he'd been trying to get away from._

_To run from._

_To escape the unbearable **G U I L T**._

_"So you are afraid."_

_Of course he's afraid. She's always known that._

_It's the reason why she hates him. She thinks he's a **C O W A R D**._

_But it's fine._

_He hates her too. He thinks she's a **M O N S T E R**._

_"Why are you so afraid?"_

_The beeping sounds louder than ever._

_"Isn't this what you wanted?"_

_The beeping is ringing in his eardrums, a steady, chilling sound that he wishes would stop._

_"Not surprised you're regretting your decision already."_

_All he has to do is walk away, and everything will be fine for once._

_The suffering would **E N D**._

_"He told you not to, but you didn't listen."_

_He only takes one step back. He doesn't move any further than that._

_"If he could have cried tears he would have."_

_The ground is shaking. This is his last chance to walk away._

_"Now you want to make his suffering double by breaking your promise. You really are the worst."_

_He can't ignore the sobs he hears in a corner of his mind, echoing throughout the empty space._

_… He's not going to run this time._

_That would only make the wailing continue forever._

_"Figures. If it had been me, I would have found another way around it."_

_The floor collapses underneath him._

_He falls._

_He screams._

_No one hears him._

_There's no one here._

_"At least you won't be the end of us."_

_He's alone._

_He's so **A L O N E**._

_"I hope I don't have to see you ever again."_

* * *

"Don't slack off."

An attempted kick to his face, one that he caught with the hand he'd been holding a pen with, brought him back from his writing. He looked up from the paper to Rose, who was staring at him with an impressed expression as her foot was kept caught in the air.

"Wasn't slacking off" was Yakko's deadpan reply as he let go of her and she situated her foot back on the floor, taking the pen he'd dropped back into his hand "I was just trying to write what I learned so far. You know, so I don't forget."

Rose only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh really?" came the sarcastic question.

He, in turn, coughed discretely.

Okay, so maybe he was lying a little bit. His mind had been wandering, remembering the happenings of just two months before, back when this whole mess had started. Back when he and his siblings had been running through the forest, when they had met the Milers, when they had agreed to join them.

More specifically, he had been thinking back to the first nightmare he'd had in a while.

**_"I hope I don't have to see you ever again."_ **

He didn't know where it'd come from. It was rather odd, because he couldn't think of any event that had happened that could possibly have made him dream that. Granted, the things that had actually appeared in the nightmare were things he was aware he was afraid of. Darkness, being alone, being hurt. Hands reaching for him. It was certainly possible that the sudden change in environment had been responsible for his bad dream, but something told him there was more to it than that. If that wasn't enough, the voice had also expressed a lot of concern for him during that time, always asking him if his head hurt or if he felt tired in any way.

Either something weird was happening or Yakko's subconscious just knew that he wanted someone to worry about him, so it sent the voice to make up for it. Thankfully, during the second, third, and fourth week, Rose had worked them to death, so he hadn't had too much time to worry about the strange nightmare or how weird the voice was acting.

They'd had classes almost every day, learning the basics first, true to the three sisters' word, and then getting a few tests to figure out what branch they would be working in. Wakko and Dot were both too inexperienced to fight, Yakko and Dot couldn't fix a toy let alone an important machine, and neither Yakko nor Wakko could even inject someone without flinching (though Yakko did know how to disinfect and bandage simple wounds from all the times his siblings had scrapped their knees playing). Therefore, as expected, Wakko got paired up with Marilyn, Dot with StarDust, and Yakko with Rose.

It was kind of fun, despite the fact that they weren't used to such demanding exercises and thus got very tired very quickly, so they were in their best spirits. When Rose had first said "Let's get down to business", neither of the three Warners had been able to contain their gleeful response of "To defeat the Huns!" StarDust had tilted her head in confusion, Marilyn had squealed and asked what they were singing so she could sing too, and Rose had just rolled her eyes (mostly because he'd already told her about a few famous human movies). They were practically in a "Make a Man out of You" montage, only there was no singing. Only pain and suffering.

They even had their own rooms. Okay, maybe not their  _own_ , since they had to share, but it was still pretty cool.

There were plenty of rooms in HQ, but for safety purposes, they all slept in pairs. Of course, the teachers slept in the same room as their pupils; Rose with Yakko, Marilyn with Wakko, and StarDust with Dot. An extra bed was added to every single room so that they wouldn't have to sleep in the same bed (that first day had been awkward as hell for everyone). In particular, when it'd come to changes to his and Rose's bedroom, he'd managed to get her to agree to redecorate it.

The room had been so barren and empty that it'd made the white of the walls more obvious which, in turn, made him more nauseous. He didn't know what it was about white walls that made him sick, but, since he couldn't get Rose to agree to paint the walls another color, he'd settled for getting furniture that could distract him from it.

The only problem (for Wakko and Dot, at least) was that they had to get up at 6 am every morning; his siblings weren't exactly morning people, especially Dot. StarDust, who was the one who woke Dot up and therefore was her verbal punching bag in the mornings, didn't seem to mind though. He was convinced she was the only one of the three of them that StarDust actually liked. Yakko had even caught her smiling, yes,  _smiling_ , at Dot a few times. Truly incredible.

Marilyn had had a hard time waking Wakko up because, as previously stated, he slept like a rock. Shaking him, pushing him off the bed, even using a whistle to try to blow his eardrums up, just didn't work. In the end, Yakko had taken pity on her and told her his secret technique for waking up his brother. This secret technique, of course, consisted of whispering "Breakfast is ready" into his ear and Wakko would get up like a lightning bolt and wag his tail with glowing eyes. She seemed to be getting used to it at least.

Rose seemed to be the one with the least trouble. Well, Yakko usually woke up easily, but there'd been quite a few times where he had almost accidentally punched her when she'd tried to wake him up while he was in the middle of the nightmare, which had been repeating every few nights since the first time he'd had it with slight variations. She always caught his hand in her palm though, so he never actually hurt her, thankfully. It was hard to still be mad at her when he had to see her every single day.

After the (in his case literal) nightmare of waking up, they all had breakfast at the dinner table he'd seen before. It usually consisted of a simple two toasts, some eggs and a few sausages, along with a glass of milk and an additional glass of orange juice. Wakko was bummed that there was no bacon, and Dot absolutely  _hated_  milk, but they made it work. Rose could be pretty persuasive when she threatened to make them run extra laps for every misdemeanor.

Then came warming up exercises, which usually involved them running around the Godforsaken Field for a while (as he'd dubbed the field they had to cross from base to Artemis), and stretching for a bit. Then came running, jumping, parkour (or at least that's what Wakko had called climbing trees and jumping from them), and finally going to their respective classes. They would later meet for joint classes in which the three of them would learn things of the two other branches they wouldn't be joining.

The second month consisted mainly on getting them used to their surroundings. The three Milers had made sure to take each of them out individually every day and showing them where the most important buildings were, so they could use them as landmarks if they ever got lost. The three of them knew Artemis like the back of their hands, but Athena and Aphrodite were a whole other story. Aphrodite was too wealthy and full of enemies to just go strolling around every day without a real purpose, and Athena was half and half. The least known to them was Aphrodite, but StarDust had reassured them that if they ever had to go to Aphrodite, they would definitely have a map with them. Yakko had gotten comfortable enough with the sisters to accept them going out with his siblings alone at this point, thankfully.

Everything became a routine.

Now, two months later, Yakko could tell they were making progress. Nothing incredible yet obviously, but the three of them knew how to do everything normal they needed to do, and were becoming better at their specifics. Marilyn had praised them extensively for their quick learning skills.

Anyway, his mind had indeed been wandering, and the paper he'd claimed to have been writing in was almost entirely blank. Rose could clearly see this because she'd snatched it from his hand the moment he'd begun to space out again.

"This doesn't look like fighting tactics to me" she hummed as she turned the page over in her hands a few times, mocking him "Unless you're trying to illustrate how much you know. If so, good job! You learned absolutely nothing."

"Ha-ha, very funny, Rose" he gave her a wry smile, snatching back the paper despite her narrowed eyes "I just got a bit distracted."

"Getting distracted in the middle of the battlefield means death, Yakko."

"I blocked your kick well enough while being distracted, didn't I?" his smiled became a grin. Try to win against  _that_  miss Smarty Pants.

She only clicked her tongue at him, crossing her arms in annoyance "That's because your reflexes are ridiculous, it's got nothing to do with actual skill."

"Says you."

"Says someone who knows what they're talking about."

\-- Well. It seems to me like you two are hitting it off  _wonderfully_. --

He almost snorted, thinking back to the voice in a deadpan drawl.

\- Yup, we're best friends already. Who would I even be without Rose. Oh Woe is me. -

\-- Why, I'm hurt Yakko, I thought  _I_  was your best friend. I'm sobbing as we speak. How could you betray me like this. --

The voice snickered with every word. What an absolute dork.

\- I'm sorry voice, our friendship can just never be! We're doomed to befriend other people.-

He fought back a laugh as he heard the voice gasp exaggeratedly, like in a melodrama. This was the best part about having a body-buddy.

\- I hope you can forgive me one day. -

\-- No! So tragic! I don't think I will ever recover. --

Yakko couldn't contain the laugh that escaped him, even if he slapped a hand over his mouth to stop it. Oops, too late.

"Uh… I fail to see the humor here."

"Eh- What?" he snapped out of his conversation with the voice, the smile dropping. Had he laughed outside his head? Shit, no wonder Rose looked confused.

"You spaced out again, and then I assume you remembered something funny because you laughed" she actually looked worried now, her brow furrowed as she inspected his face from a few angles "Have you been sleeping well lately?"

The reason why he'd looked spaced out this time was because he'd been talking to the voice, but her worries made sense anyway. Still, Yakko was reluctant to tell her he'd been having a looped nightmare every so often. She might start thinking that he was useless if he couldn't pay attention after a few restless nights.

"You better tell me the truth" her eyes apparently saw all, because she was already predicting that he would lie to her, lifting an eyebrow at him "I need to properly know your status. If you aren't well I can't send you on missions, so if there's a problem you better report it."

With a shrug, Yakko gave up. The voice had actually put him in a fairly good mood "No, I actually haven't been sleeping well."

"Reason?"

"Nightmares."

"Figured" Rose nodded, seemingly thankful that he hadn't tried to lie "We can work something out in the next few days then. Star knows a good remedy for those."

"You figured?"

"The last few times you almost kicked me in the face gave you away."

She was smirking at him, but he still felt a bit guilty for almost hurting her, so his ears lowered a bit. Rose instantly noticed though and she elbowed him lightly.

"C'mon, don't feel too bad" her smirk turned into a smile that made him feel a bit better. She really wasn't that bad, just a bit more intense than he was used to "It's not like it was your fault. Everyone gets nightmares every once in a while."

He was about to retort that his had been pretty consistent, like, once every week, but he wasn't sure if that was wise so he shut his mouth again. Instead, he began thinking of how to bring up a matter he'd been wondering about for a while.

"Hey, I was thinking..." he shuffled in his chair slightly. He wanted to ask her when their first mission would happen, but he knew that Rose wasn't about to send them into the battlefield just yet. They still had much to learn, but they wouldn't be stuck with training forever... Would they?

As if reading his mind, Rose snorted "You want to know when you'll start doing missions, don't you?"

His wagging tail was her only response, and she reacted to it with a laugh, her head shaking slightly "I was actually thinking of bringing you three on a real mission with us next month..."

She had a thoughtful expression, tapping her index finger against her other hand "But maybe I can send you on an errand. Would that satisfy you for now?"

An errand wasn't the same as a mission, but hey, he'd take what he could get.

He shrugged "Sounds good to me."

"Great," she clapped her hands together "I'll tell you all the details later in the day. For now, I'd advise you start  _actually_  working on your exercises, and not having your head in the clouds."

She sent him a meaningful look, and he only huffed in response.

"Fine,  _mom_ , I'm going" he complained, standing up from the chair. He was thinking of maybe spending a bit of time working at the gym. The voice could probably entertain him with conversation while he ran on a treadmill for a bit.

With a pleased grin, Rose pat him on the back "Go and become a man, my son."

Yakko could only laugh, waving her away as he turned into the hallway and walked over to the door that lead to the gym.

He would admit that he was getting used to Rose's attitude after two months of basically following her around like a lost puppy- Not that that was something he wanted to do, but she was his personal teacher and he couldn't exactly learn without her there.

After the shit fest that had been their first meeting and their second and third days together, he'd managed to relax around her. She could be rather rough at times... especially when he messed up (he thought his ears would never stop ringing from the intensity of her shouts when he hadn't managed to hit her a single time during training once) but she wasn't bad at all. They were amicable with each other.

Marilyn and StarDust were another matter, but from the time he'd spent together with them, they didn't seem like people he'd have problems with.

StarDust was more reserved than Marilyn, so it was harder to get to know her. However, contrary to what he'd originally believed, she was very gentle, and almost never got angry at them when they got something wrong. Her disinterest could be somewhat off-putting at times, though. Not to say he disliked her, she was just too stoic for him to know what she was thinking, and that worried him a bit.

Marilyn, on the other hand, was even more energetic than Rose, more cheery too. It was like she had an endless supply of sugar running through her veins, and he'd admit he was a bit jealous of how she could run for hours on end and not get tired at all. She and Wakko got along perfectly in that sense; God knew that when Wakko was excited, he couldn't be stopped, and Marilyn seemed to fit that description to a T.

The three sisters were rather nice people to be around, and he thought that if he and his siblings had to be stuck with some people working to overthrow a monarchy, he was glad it was with the Milers.

Yakko just wondered if Wakko and Dot felt the same.

* * *

Dot was just about ready to throw the roll of bandages in her hand out of a window.

How dare the dumb strips of cloth fight her when she just wanted to wrap them around the arm of the dummy Star had brought her? They were either too tight, or too loose, or she had left spaces in between them, and Dot was sick and tired of getting reprimanded by StarDust.

... Alright, maybe she was exaggerating a bit. Star was being nice to her, she wasn't even yelling, but her frustration wouldn't go away just like that. She always got upset when she didn't do something as well as she was expected to do, and she expected a lot from herself. She had pride to maintain. Yakko had always told her she put too much expectation on herself and that it would make her get wrinkles. He knew she really didn't want to get wrinkles.

What does he know, right? If someone should be saying "stop stressing yourself out over stupid stuff", it was her to him.

... Not that everything he worried about was stupid. Honestly, she and Wakko were worried about him. He looked better than the first few days they'd been at HQ, but he didn't look great by any means. Seemed like he'd been getting nightmares again...

Yakko had been having nightmares ever since she could remember. A few years before they had gone away almost completely, but it looked like they were back in full force. He would never really tell them what the nightmares were about, but they had been able to uncover a few details from his mumblings while he slept. The ones that they were usually able to hear were strings of numbers, him saying that he was cold or hungry or scared, and whimpers saying that there was blood. So much blood.

The nightmares worried them, because neither of them could remember having had such specific ones before. If they did have a nightmare, they were usually about monsters chasing them, or... being left alone.

That particular fear came from the fact that they didn't know their parents, and they didn't know where they'd gone. They had to have come from  _somewhere_  but the only one of them who had a chance to remember was Wakko, and he'd admitted he didn't remember much more than a few blurry faces.

They knew Yakko wasn't like their parents, but it didn't stop the fear of him leaving from paralyzing them. Yakko was... He was their big brother, their guardian, their protector, their hero, and she didn't think either of them would be able to handle him disappearing.

The fact that Yakko could have died before they had been old enough to really know him had only hit them once they'd been much older. He'd fallen from the  _water tower_  for Christ's sake! She'd looked down more than enough times when she'd been by the railing to know that falling from that height was not something someone came out of with broken bones and amnesia. More like, it was something someone didn't come back from at all. They'd been too young to remember that, and it was only when Yakko had mentioned it in passing that it had actually sunk in.

They could have lost their brother, and then they would have been all alone. They'd been so young when they got to the studio, Dot often wondered how Yakko had managed to take care of them, being a kid himself. Let alone a kid with amnesia who had probably not even known who they were, considering he'd had trouble remembering his own name at the time. With the amount of things that put him on edge and the sheer panic he showed whenever one of them got so much as a skinned knee, it was a wonder he hadn't imploded from stress by now.

... Hopefully now that they were around their own kind, he could get better. He could make friends, and be distracted enough that he wouldn't always worry about his siblings. Rose seemed to be becoming something of the sort, but she had a long way to go if she really wanted to see who their brother was. Yakko was still very pointedly keeping her at a distance.

Dot grabbed the item she had let go of again, trying to get her mind back on track. Now instead of wanting to throw the bandages out the window, she kind of wanted to hug them in her sadness. Maybe she could sneak off for just a little bit to go chat with Yakko. And maybe hug him lots.

"Are you finished yet, Dot?"

She looked up from the soft plush arm she had been attempting to bandage to stare at StarDust's face. "No", she wanted to say, "I haven't finished yet because these stupid bandages have a vendetta against me".

Instead of saying that though, she groaned quietly and handed the bandages to her "I just can't get it right."

As she'd expected, instead of getting frustrated along with her, StarDust smiled and patiently showed her how to use them again. For the fifth time.

"You have only been doing this for two months, of course you aren't an expert yet. Stop expecting so much out of yourself, you'll just get frustrated that way."

See? StarDust was so kind to her. Unlike Rose, who would always yell at them at any opportunity.

... Fine, she was exaggerating again. She only ever  _really_  yelled at Yakko, and that only happened when he really messed up, or wasn't taking the exercises seriously (she'd admit that the reason he considered them a joke sometimes was because she and Wakko liked to distract him with ridiculous dances). Still, Rose liked bossing them around, and Dot would admit she held a small grudge against her for that.

Besides, she'd pointed a gun at Yakko's head. Even if she was becoming his friend, that was unforgivable.

Then you had Marilyn. She wasn't sure what she thought about her. Dot guessed that her perpetual happiness was a bit annoying, but she seemed nice, and Wakko liked her well enough. She wasn't sure if that was a point in Marilyn's favor or not though.

All in all, Dot thought the three sisters were okay. She still wasn't keen on the fact that they were still kinda homeless and that they would have to fight with guns and knives and all those other icky things she disliked, but StarDust had told her that she was the Medic Apprentice, and as such, she wouldn't have to fight as much. That made her feel a bit happier.

Besides, Yakko had already told them that he would protect them no matter what. That made her feel happier too, even if she'd already known that. Hearing it was always nice.

"But it's so annoying!" she finally responded, a pout on her face "Wakko already knows how to fix a radio, and I can't even bandage a stupid wound right."

Wakko was not allowed to be better than her. Yakko being better? That she could take, because he was the big brother. Wakko though? No.  _She_  was supposed to be the talented one in this family.

StarDust, again, only patiently smiled at her "You shouldn't compare yourself to your brother. He showed interest in machinery since before getting here, right? He already has some experience."

Dot kept pouting, but she listened nonetheless "Besides, medicine and machinery are two completely different things. You should be proud of your accomplishments. Don't you remember how you used a syringe perfectly while neither of your brothers could do it?"

"Yeah, but... I wasn't good at fighting or fixing things either... It isn't their fault that they didn't know how to do this."

StarDust shook her head "That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say is that you all have different abilities and different levels of knowledge on them. You just have to go little by little, and eventually, you'll be a professional. Who knows, you might get to be better than me."

The teen winked at her and Dot giggled "I'll end up saving their butts one day and they'll have to kneel before me."

"Indeed. You'll be a little princess with a degree in medicine" with a grin, Star ruffled her hair and Dot smiled up at her "Now, what do you say you try again?"

"Okay!"

* * *

"Now, get the radio working again."

"Why would I fix it when you're just going to break it again?"

"It's called practice, Wakko" Marilyn grinned at him, but Wakko only stared at her in exasperation.

He had been fixing the same stupid radio  _all day_  and he wanted to learn something new. This was the eighth time he'd fixed it.

Yakko had been learning evading techniques, Dot was learning how to bandage a wound, but him? He's still here, doing nothing, just fixing the dumb radio that probably nobody had ever used. What was the point in fixing a radio anyway? He'd understand if Marilyn taught him how to fix a gun... Now that'd be cool.

"Don't you think those were enough radios?" Wakko sent her a hopeful look, but his Puppy Eyes were only effective on Yakko and Marilyn merely gave him a smirk and lifted an eyebrow.

"Not a chance, kiddo."

Damn.

With a sigh, he went back to the radio. He was sure that Dot and Yakko had to be having a lot more fun than he was. Well, at least Yakko had to be having more fun. Medical stuff was kind of boring.

He loved fixing things, really, but this was ridiculous.

Marilyn seemed to sense his imminent shout of frustration, so she spoke calmly "The exercise isn't about you fixing radios, by the way."

"Huh?" he temporarily stopped trying to unscrew the bottom of the radio, looking up at a smiling Marilyn.

"It's about perseverance. Some things just keep getting broken over and over again, or people may come to sabotage something. If you just give up because fixing the same thing many times is boring, a whole operation could collapse."

He hummed at her answer, thinking about it.

Perseverance... Yakko had said something like that once. All that "never give up" stuff, right?

No, wait... It'd been that  _other_  guy, hadn't it?

Wakko was pretty sure Yakko had no idea he and Dot had actually met "The Voice" before, even if he did know they were aware that the voice existed. He'd told them himself after all.

Back when they'd been at the WB lot, when they'd been little, some nights Yakko would get up at midnight and go outside to stare at the distance from the balcony of the tower, presumably to get some fresh air. One day, he and Dot had decided to finally follow him outside and ask him why he kept doing that, especially since he'd always seemed a bit nervous about standing there after, you know, actually falling from the damn water tower.

Surprise, surprise! The person standing there hadn't been Yakko at all.

They'd been scared at first, because whoa, why did Yakko suddenly have red eyes with thin black pupils? But this, "other person", had presented themselves as "The Voice". Why didn't they have a name? The voice had said that that was just what Yakko thought they were, so that was their identity for now.

The voice was a complete mystery. They wouldn't tell the siblings where they'd come from, and Yakko apparently had as much of a clue as Wakko and Dot did. Though, neither he nor Dot had dared to ask Yakko who the hell the voice was and why they were in his body. It would be kind of awkward, and Yakko didn't really like talking about it.

Despite being God knows what, the voice was actually really cool. After Wakko and Dot had told them they were worried about Yakko's incessant nightmares one night, they'd smiled softly and told them to leave it to them. Imagine their surprise when, slowly, Yakko ended up not having any nightmares from then on. Well, until they reached HQ, that is, because Wakko could tell that Yakko wasn't sleeping well. The bags under his eyes were tell-tale signs.

Wakko didn't know what the voice had done to stop Yakko's nightmares, but he wanted them to start doing it again. Unfortunately, now there was no balcony, and he couldn't go to Rose's room to wake Yakko up and hope that the voice would be the one to answer him. That'd just be weird.

The voice had always been kind to them. Because they didn't know what they were, he and Dot had always theorized that they could be a supernatural being. They could be a... Well, by seeing their eyes, he would say demon, but despite their color and shape, their eyes were gentle and their tone of voice even more so. The other thing they'd thought of was that they were an angel, who looked after their brother. It sounded ridiculous, but it was a nice thought, and they couldn't explain what the voice was anyway.

The voice had laughed when they'd asked if they were one though, so that probably wasn't the case.

Curious, they had thrown the names of different supernatural beings at the voice every time they could catch them, trying to get them to tell the siblings which one they were. The voice would always smile and shake their head though, telling them they would never guess, because what they were hadn't been written in any books.

Despite their answer, Wakko and Dot had still asked every night they went to the balcony to stare at the stars.

"You kids sure are persistent" the voice had laughed once, ruffling their hair and giving them worse bedhair than they'd had before. They'd even allowed the two of them to tackle them playfully as a greeting (uh, so long as they were away from the edge) further proving that they were not a malevolent being. "But I think perseverance is a good thing. You shouldn't give up after you made the effort to start, right?"

Then, they had put a finger to their chin in thought and given them a smile "Tell you what, if you do end up figuring out what I am, I'll give you a present. Think of it as a medal for never giving up."

They'd never gotten that present, because they'd never guessed right. But they still had time to figure it out, didn't they?

Man… he missed the voice. They were like the cool uncle they'd never had.

"It looks like someone went to Memory Lane."

"Eh?" Wakko shook his head to look back at Marilyn, stopping his automatic fixing of the radio, which he'd done without even thinking because he'd done it so many times.

She shrugged "Just thought that you got your spacing out from your brother. Rose gets so mad at him for not paying attention."

Wakko didn't want to tell her that Yakko's spacing out usually made sense because he was probably talking with the voice, so he kept his mouth shut. Neither Wakko nor Dot had disclosed the secret of the voice to either of the three Milers, since they were sure Yakko hadn't. If Yakko wanted to tell the three about that guy, then by all means, but they weren't going to say anything until they knew Yakko was comfortable with it.

"I just got so bored of the radio I couldn't help but start thinking of other things" it was partly true anyway "I still fixed it."

"Okay" she nodded, abruptly taking the radio from his hands "But the question is: Does it work?"

He wasn't sure, really. He'd been so distracted that he might have made a few mistakes here and there, and radios aren't very benevolent. If you fucked up, it won't work.

Wakko was a bit worried. What if Marilyn got mad at him if it didn't work? Marilyn hadn't gotten mad at him yet... and he didn't want to know how she was when she was mad if she was anything like Rose when she got mad. He really didn't.

Rose could get rather violent at times, but only with Yakko, who she knew was prepared to counter her strikes with his rather fast reflexes. Even if he didn't hit back, he could usually avoid her own punches. They both took it as part of training, since apparently Yakko had to be prepared to fight at any given moment, so nobody really questioned it. She wasn't that bad though, she acted like a leader and knew what to do at the right times.

Still, she'd pointed a gun at Yakko's head. He didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive her for that.

StarDust... didn't seem to like him very much. Actually, he was convinced that she only liked Dot. The reason? Well, Dot was just cute, he guessed, though annoying at times. But hey, she was his sister, so of course she was. StarDust appeared to be rather quiet, only speaking when it was absolutely necessary (at least, that's the way she was with anyone other than Dot).

He thought they could trust them. He believed in this feeling that, as weird as they were, the three Milers were good people. Yakko had been obviously distrustful of them for a while, but he was paranoid so it didn't really count.

With a smile, Marilyn easily closed the radio and screwed it back into place. Then, she put it up on the table and turned the button.

A song came out of the radio, and Wakko breathed a sigh of relief.

Marilyn hummed, happy "So you managed to fix the radio perfectly without even thinking" she laughed and punched his arm softly, her usual way of telling him he'd done a good job "I'm impressed. I think you've fixed enough of these things to last you a lifetime."

He felt himself practically vibrating in excitement at her words. He would get to look at the inside of other machines? Maybe something more advanced?

"Mary! Star!"

They both heard Rose's voice calling her sisters from the hallway, and Marilyn stood up to look out the door "Yeah?" Wakko saw StarDust poking her head out of the infirmary just as Marilyn was doing, though she didn't say anything.

"Remember that errand we were talking about?" Rose asked rhetorically, giving them a big smile "Well guess what. It'll be the Warner Siblings' first ever mission."

"An errand is not a mission, Rose" StarDust's sigh could be heard from the infirmary, but it was drowned out by Marilyn's happy shrieks as she and Wakko both started jumping up and down excitedly.

"Did you hear that, Wakko? You guys are going on an errand!" She sounded even more pumped than he was.

"Hell yeah! We're actually doing something!" he exclaimed rather loudly, and to his embarrassment, he heard Yakko's yell from the gym telling him "Wakko! Language!"

"Sorry!" he shouted back at his brother, but he was too excited to care too much about the reprimand.

"When's that going to be?" Dot's voice drifted out of the infirmary, less excited but still interested.

"Tomorrow" Rose answered, nodding in satisfaction at everyone's excitement "We'll be telling you what you need to do and where to go tomorrow morning, so prepare yourselves."

\- It's finally time for adventure -

With a laugh, because Yakko couldn't tell him off if he was swearing inside his head, he pumped a fist at the air.

\- Hell yeah. -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gonna be a poll for whether people want there to be romance in the story or not (between Yakko, Rose and The Voice), so look forward to that


	8. Chapter 8

The assignment was actually so incredibly simple that their excitement was watered down to a light feeling of disappointment. Like previously stated though, they took what they could get.

StarDust took initiative and explained what exactly they had to do, Marilyn stressed how incredibly valuable what they were carrying was and that they should be careful with it, and Rose simply gave them a map to where they were supposed to carry the goods to. The youngest Milers looked kind of frazzled for some reason, tapping her foot and staring the floor down.

"Your mission is to deliver these over to this specific house in Athena" StarDust explained, her eyes, a mixture of green and a lighter green, focused on a spot on the map as her index finger pointed at it "With this map it's impossible to get lost, so don't be afraid of taking any weird turns if someone is following you."

"Try not to interact with too many people" Rose cut in as if to add to her older sister's words, her tail puffed up and swaying in a stressed back and forth "You don't know who's an ally and who's an enemy in Athena. It's less dangerous to keep your head down and go straight there."

"And don't jostle those around too much" Marilyn reminded them with a stern expression, but her green eyes that were almost the same as her twin sister's twinkled with enthusiasm for their first 'mission' "They're delicate."

"What are they anyway?" Yakko wondered out loud, eyeing the backpack Rose had slung over his shoulder with a weary expression. He knew Wakko's backpack had the maps, and in Dot's backpack were snacks for the trip (she had to hit Wakko's hand away a few times when he'd tried to sneak some from it), but he wasn't sure what  _he_  was carrying. They weren't smuggling goods, were they?

- _-_ … We're totally smuggling goods. - _-_

\- Dammit. -

Rose sent a smug smile to her twin, who sent her a pout in return "Marilyn's just very protective of her work. They're a few gadgets that she made that are supposed to be able to make it so that we can communicate with others through voice, but they're portable. It's weird, like a mixture of a phone and a walkie-talkie."

"Don't call them weird, they're my life's work!" Marilyn huffed back, but puffed out her chest in pride as she explained what the device was "Humans call it a Cellphone, and it'll make communicating ten times easier. You know how difficult it is to replicate human technology with the scarce amount of parts in WarnerStock? It's really hard!"

"Okay, fascinating that you managed to make a cellphone, but we kinda have to leave soon so," he tried to change the subject back to the matter at hand because it was already morning and they were supposed to be going to the train station with their newly acquired passports in about two hours "We just have to take them to this place and come back?"

"No, they'll give you something Rose's been looking for in return" Marilyn explained, but her twin bristled even further and started shaking her hands back and forth in front of her as if to tell her to shut up. Marilyn merely sent her an unamused look "I'm not going all the way over there just for your book, Rose. Not if they can get it for you."

Yakko looked to Rose with risen eyebrows. What could have possibly broken their leader's rock-hard composure? "What kind of book is it?"

"None of your business is what it is, and don't even think about reading it, got it?!" Rose warned him, looking nervous and a little angry "It's very important and I need it back here  _safe and sound_."

As if trying to change the topic for her younger sister's sake, StarDust shoved the map in his hands and gestured for them to go out the door "Aren't you glad it's so simple?"

On one hand yes, on the other no. It was nice that it wasn't too complicated, but all three of them had expected something... a bit more exciting? Still, the Warners accepted the mission with grace and took off to the train station.

Unlike what anyone might expect, walking through the same path Rose had taken him through two months before was nerve-wracking. With no one to guide them, Yakko found himself consulting the map of Artemis more times than he honestly needed to, mostly out of nervousness and a lack of faith in himself. He'd been dragged through the last two months by a leash, and suddenly he'd been let free and left to his own devices; it was honestly a bit unsettling. And all that without mentioning that, despite the lack of interest the warners around them had shown toward the three siblings when any of the Milers sisters had been with them, they were suddenly the center of attention.

There was not one pair of eyes that wasn't on them. Some who were lounging around the entrance of some alleys even whispered amongst themselves when they walked by.

The streets were crowded, filled with warners with every kind of hair and eye color. However, Yakko noticed something as they walked along, keeping watch on every person that stared at them.

Their eyes. He hadn't seen even one pair that looked like theirs.

It couldn't be a coincidence. With this amount of warners around, there should have been at least one pair of each, considering there wasn't such a diverse variety.

Could that be why everyone was watching them? But why were there such strange emotions in their eyes? They ranged from anger to disgust and even to hope. What was their deal?

"Isn't that the way to the train station?"

Yakko stopped his personal staring contest with a couple that had been giving them particularly disgruntled looks when Wakko's voice rang out. When he looked down at his siblings, Dot was pointing at the stairs leading underground, while Wakko tugged on his hand. Both were looking up at him as if telling him they shouldn't make a scene.

Begrudgingly agreeing with them, he suppressed a sigh "Yeah, let's go down. Athena should be closer than Aphrodite, so it'll probably take us an hour to get there at the most" he just hoped he wouldn't run into Nicolas on the train. The man would probably throw them off the moment he saw Yakko's face after the scene he'd made last time.

They passed through the tunnel he'd had the displeasure of going through two months before, a certain tenseness in the air. His siblings seemed particularly pensive, and sometimes exchanged knowing looks that concerned him a bit. What were they secretly communicating about? Was he being left out?

The thought made him immediately shake his head to disperse it. He'd told himself ages ago that doubting the only people he actually trusted would just make him get worse, and he wasn't about to start worrying now. If it was something important they would probably tell him. Probably.

With this in mind, they went up the stairs and got to the station.

Luckily, the annoying conductor wasn't in that particular train and their journey through Artemis over to Athena was a peaceful one, especially considering that Rose had given him the new Pass-watcher's schedule and they were in no danger of their train being checked. They were even able to catch up on a bit of sleep. Well, Wakko and Dot were able to. Yakko was just the impromptu body pillow that got smooshed by the two smaller bodies leaning on him.

To entertain himself, Yakko looked outside the window, but there wasn't anything of interest out there. Just a bunch of houses scattered around a gigantic field. It was the countryside, and he supposed all this land was used to grow crops, judging from the lines of corn he'd seen. He got bored fairly quickly.

An hour in of the younger children sleeping and Yakko humming the Animaniacs theme song quietly so as to not wake his siblings, Dot stirred in his grasp.

"Mm," she mumbled sleepily "Yakko...?"

He felt a tug at his wrist, so he looked down from his boring window watching to stare at his sister.

"Yeah, sis?" he asked in a whisper, though he wasn't worried about accidentally waking Wakko "What is it?"

She yawned and cuddled back against his chest, but her eyes opened again to look up at him a moment later "Is the base our home now?"

He felt a small pang of hurt pass through his chest at the thought that their "new home" was nothing more than a place to train them to fight. With a sigh, he lightly raked his gloved fingers through her hair "I don't know. Do you want it to be?"

Dot seemed to think about it for a moment, narrowing her eyes slightly "I don't know. You?"

Yakko shrugged. He didn't think he would prefer it had there been a choice "Nah. But I don't mind living with the Milers" then, a thought passed through his head "Do you like them?"

"They're alright" she yawned again "Star's nice to me. Marilyn's a bit too hyper" then, her nose wrinkled "And Rose yells a lot."

Yakko chuckled at that "Yeah, she does. But she's okay, I think. Star's kinda stoic, but she seems enamored with you."

Now a bit more awake, Dot puffed out her chest at that "As she should be! I'm the cute one, after all."

"Of course. Always the cutest" he teasingly booped her nose and smiled when she giggled "And Marilyn fits in with Wakko perfectly, don't you think?"

"Yeah" she laughed "They both act like they ate too much sugar."

Even in his sleep, as if annoyed by the comment, Wakko's brow furrowed ever so slightly and with a swing kicked his younger sister in the shin.

"Ow!"

Luckily for Yakko though, because he didn't want to have to pull them apart again, all Dot did to turn the tables was frown at her brother and kick back. He says luckily because, though he could miraculously hear conversations, Wakko couldn't feel the kick in his sleep and thus didn't retaliate. He just kept snoring away.

Lucky rascal, Yakko could only wish to sleep that deeply.

"Wonder if Marilyn's ever going to teach him some manners" Dot grumbled as she rubbed below her knee, a sour expression on her face "Why does he have to be so beastly?"

Yakko shrugged, though there was a grin on his face "He's Wakko, what do you expect? But no, seriously, don't be mean to your brother" to apologize for his comment, he gently ruffled his younger brother's head and had to stifle a laugh when he smiled stupidly in his sleep.

"I'll stop being mean when  _he_  stops being mean" she turned her head away, but Yakko shook her shoulder so she'd turn her face back toward him. His tranquil expression had turned into one of concern.

"Dot, we need to stay together during times like these" he sighed, gently rubbing up and down her back when his younger sister looked down guiltily "I know things kind of suck right now, but even if the world tries to rip us apart we need to be able to stay together."

"... It's not like I hate him or anything. I mean, he's my brother and all" she mumbled, cuddling back against him "He just gets on my nerves sometimes."

"You didn't fight nearly as much before though" he raised an eyebrow at her "Why have you've been at each other's throats since we got to the base?"

Dot didn't say anything at that, looking away to the window of the train.

"At least  _try_  not to fight? We can't afford you two going at it in the middle of a mission, you know that."

"I know!" she raised her voice, but when he only looked at her with a sad expression, her shoulders de-tensed and sighed "... I know that. It's just..."

"... We're scared."

To his credit, Yakko didn't jump in surprise when Wakko mumbled the words and slowly sat up, rubbing at his eyes. He definitely wasn't as bad as the voice.

Speaking of which… it was being awfully quiet considering the current situation.

"We're scared of what's coming and we're taking it out on each other" Wakko shrugged after a moment, his sleepy expression not hiding the anxiousness in his eyes "It's easy to be each other's punching bag."

"Star said they'd teach us how to fire guns soon" Dot shivered while she added to what Wakko was saying, her eyes conflicted as she hugged her older brother's arm "... I don't want to learn that, Yakko. What if I actually-"

"You won't. I know neither of you will hurt anyone" with soft eyes, Yakko brought both of them closer to him so that he could hug them, one arm around each "They're good teachers, right? We've been experiencing that these past two months."

Wakko and Dot looked up at him with frightened eyes, and he had to hug them a bit tighter to stop the fear in his own heart.

He wouldn't say he wasn't afraid. He was. He was so scared that he'd been awake thinking about everything for a few nights. However, he was more afraid for his siblings than he was for himself, though that was to be expected, considering he was their older brother. In the battlefield, he wouldn't be able to stay near them and keep an eye out for them to make sure that they were safe. They would probably have to spread out, go in different directions, and one day he'll probably have his heart in his throat because he won't know if his baby brother and sister are alive or not. Their safety wasn't guaranteed, just like his wasn't.

He wasn't worried about what might happen to himself though. In the case that he didn't come back, he was sure the Milers wouldn't be opposed to keep Wakko and Dot with them. Marilyn adored Wakko, and StarDust was smitten with Dot. Rose wouldn't mind, he was sure. It wasn't a nice thing to think about, and he would fight until the end if only just to be there for his siblings... but he had a backup plan should something happen, and that was the important part.

"They won't shove us into the lion's den without the tools to tame them" he reassured them, trying to keep his mind in the present and not let it drift away into fears of the future. That would be dangerous "You guys'll be expert shooters before they give you a gun, and you'll know where the vitals are so you don't accidentally do more damage than you mean to."

The younger warners first looked at each other in worry, and then back up at him, giving him an uncertain smile "... We'll be okay?"

Yakko, in order not to have a brief panic attack, took a deep breath and released it softly "Yeah... We'll be okay."

They remained quiet for the rest of the trip, though Wakko and Dot remained awake this time and stared at the outside with him. And if his arms occasionally hugged them a little too tightly or either of his siblings suddenly clutched his hand enough to hurt... No one mentioned it.

In about half an hour they arrived at the station of Athena and they stepped off the train, watching it head off again in the other direction with apprehension. Their ride was gone and wouldn't be back for, at least, two more hours. They were stuck.

With that thought in their minds, the three Warners sighed collectively and Wakko handed Yakko the map of the town so they could get going.

Athena's streets and houses' designs made it look like Germany, and the smell of sausages and mashed potatoes only further showed their similarities. He wondered if warners had gone to these cities under cover and had been inspired by the humans' designs, because it wouldn't be possible for their towns to be so similar otherwise. Maybe they'd looked at postcards or photos. But that was something to ask the Milers another day.

In Athena, the amount of eyes on them was the same as it had been in Artemis. However, the emotions that were running through the eyes of the warners were vastly different. There were some who looked at them as if they'd seen the Devil, while others stared as if they'd seen their salvation. The ones who looked on with smiles on their faces seemed wealthy, walking around in suits or even just nice clothes, while those who gave them dirty looks were sitting around the streets or working in small stands that didn't have many costumers.

"Do you guys have any clue why they're staring at us like that?" Yakko whispered to his siblings, his eyes darting back and forth in case some of the poorer warners tried to attack them. No one approached them though.

"I think Mary said our eyes are weird" Wakko whispered back, sticking close "Something about family des… descendants? I didn't really get it. What does that word even mean?"

"Seems like our eye color is pretty uncommon" Dot explained, her voice just as quiet "Star mentioned something like that too back when we were in the forest. Like... only those from the Warner family line have these eyes...? She said we were probably from one of the families that branched from the royalty one. Smaller nobles, or something like that."

Ah... That would actually explain it "So they think we're like William?"

"The ones who're glaring probably believe that the royal family was behind the kidnappings..." Wakko muttered, trailing off.

"... And the ones smiling at us probably don't" Dot finished, mouth turned down into a small grimace.

"... We have big shoes to fill either way" Yakko groaned, pressing a hand to his eyes to rub them in exasperation "But nevermind that; we should get going or Rose'll yell at us when we get back."

"When  _doesn't_  she?" Wakko grumbled moodily- Mostly because the mentioned blond had told him off when he'd had the brilliant idea to try and disassemble some important machine in the middle of the night. And then Marilyn had appeared to berate him too. It'd been a pretty shit day.

Dot snickered because she knew what he was sulking about, but Yakko just snorted and patted him once on the shoulder.

"Good point."

Following the map was as easy as tracing the way through a labyrinth in one of those cereal boxes, but Yakko still double-checked to make sure he was taking them the right way. They went through down-trodden alleys and narrow streets to reach the "safe-house", but they managed to reach it in half an hour.

The house was just like the rest of those in Athena, but what Yakko noticed as they slowly walked to it, looking around them to make sure they hadn't been followed, was the metal door that clashed with the style of the town. It was odd enough that they were wary of approaching it, but eventually Yakko just instructed Wakko and Dot to stay back and walked up to the door, clutching at the backpack's strap in a firm grip.

With a gulp, he knocked on the door exactly three times and had to jump back when the rectangular peephole he'd barely noticed earlier opened. It was too dark inside to see anything, but it didn't stop Yakko from squinting his eyes and trying to distinguish something from his place in front of the door.

"... What's the password?" a voice came from the other side, low and raspy. Threatening.

"Rose didn't say anything about a password..." he attempted to smile charmingly at the stranger, but he was sure that it'd just come out as a broken grin that betrayed his nervousness.

There was silence from the other side for a moment, an almost silent sound of breathing, and then the person addressed him again "If you don't have a password you can't get in."

"But we have a delivery" Wakko interrupted, though Dot elbowed him in the gut a moment later and gave him a glare as he rubbed at his tummy in despair.

"We're here on behalf of the Milers sisters" Dot explained instead, putting on a big grin and trying to use her cute charms to their advantage "We just want to give you these cellphones, and we need a book in return."

"No password, no entry" the person huffed indignantly "What's the password?"

"Forget it" Yakko sighed, starting to walk away "There wasn't even a time limit on this so maybe we should just go back and-"

"Wait!"

Suddenly a different voice passed through the door, a high and feminine one "You're not supposed to  _leave_ , you have to try and guess the password!"

Wakko and Dot blinked once in confusion. However, a moment later they seemed to get what was going on and exchanged amused glances, but Yakko only kept staring at the door with a hint of irritation. With all the doubt and fear raging inside his head, now was a  _really_  bad time to try and push his buttons.

"Hate to tell you, but we're here on business? Maybe try practicing your comedy routine someplace else" he could (somewhat) appreciate the attempt at humor, but they were wasting time and he was not looking forward to getting reprimanded if Rose decided they'd taken too long. She had looked  _really_  anxious to get that book back.

There was a groan behind the door "Oh for Zeus'-" then, the sound of latches being pulled resounded, and suddenly, the door opened up a smidge, though the inside was still so dark they couldn't see the person on the other side "You guys are no fun, I was just trying to play a little."

The person sighed, annoyed, and then an arm extended through the small space between the door and the doorway "Here, give me the package and I'll give you the book. Rose wanted it back."

Yakko only stared at the extended arm in confusion. Why did warners have to be so damn weird? "Uh... Won't you come out? It's kind of awkward to be making business deals with a hand."

The person didn't say anything for a few seconds, but when they did, their voice was soft and sad "I'm sorry, I don't... really like people looking at me. I would totally let you guys in and offer you a cup of tea but-" they stopped when someone else cleared their throat from the inside, obviously fake, and they sighed as if in defeat "Anyway, just... Just give me the backpack. I'm sorry I have to be rude."

"No, there's nothing to apologize for" he hadn't been trying to make them uncomfortable, he'd just been curious. Now he was even more so "It's okay. Here,"

With that, he slipped the backpack off his shoulders and gently placed the strap so that it would be held up by their arm. He accidentally looked too close and was surprised to see stitches on the corner of their fingers and their wrist. The hand was completely slack too, giving him the impression that they'd lost the ability to move it at all.

… He wasn't sure he wanted to know what had happened to this person.

Silently, the arm disappeared into the darkness with the backpack in tow and it came back out a moment later with a small black-covered book in the palm of their hand. It looked more like an appointment book from what he could see, but he wasn't about to open it and start reading it to find out. Not when Rose had explicitly told him not to do so.

"... Thank you."

He slowly took the book from the stranger's hand, and the moment he took it, the arm retracted itself back into the shadows and the door closed violently in Yakko's face, making a small rush of wind.

"… Send the sisters my regards."

"Yeah... Will do" Yakko knew he wouldn't get anything else out of this person and thus started backing away, over to his brother and sister. However, his gaze was on the book he'd been handed.

It really seemed nothing more than an appointment book, but it looked worn and he thought he could see some burn marks along the edges.

Actually, now that he saw the outside more clearly...

"Huh," he murmured, pensive.

"What is it?"

Wakko and Dot both turned their heads to look at him and then at the book, but Yakko was too interested in what he'd just deciphered to look back at them.

"It says "My diary" on the cover. Someone scribbled it on with marker I think. It's a shock that it lasted with the condition the book's in."

And suddenly, out of the very blue, he heard a gasp, one he was sure hadn't come from him nor his siblings.

One of horrified realization.

- _-_ ... Blondie told you to get  _this_ for her? - _-_

Yakko's eyebrows rose at the voice's words.  _Whoa_ , why did it suddenly sound so hostile? He'd never heard the voice so cold and angry before.

\- … Yeah? It's just a book. -

_\-- ... --_

He felt more and more worried as the voice didn't say anything, especially when his siblings started walking back toward the street they'd come from and he was forced to follow.

Finally, after a few more moments, it spoke. Its tone had softened at the edges, but Yakko could tell it was still furious, just that the negative emotion was not directed at him.

- _-_ I know Blondie already told you not to, but I'll get in the bandwagon. Reading it is a bad idea. A really. Bad. Idea. - _-_

\- You're not even gonna tell me why? -

_\-- ... --_

\- You know that won't satiate my curiosity. -

_-_ \- ... It's bad. Really bad.  _ **And I don't want you even looking at it**_. - _-_

Yikes.

The voice quieted down then; it seemed like it was angry and worried all at once, thinking very deeply about something. Again, Yakko tried not to pay too much attention. He would just get unnecessarily anxious and it would do no one any good.

With many questions in his mind, most involving the stupid book resting in Wakko's backpack, the three warners headed back for the base. They went back through the alleys, the streets, and finally the staircase leading to Athena's station.

The trip to return to HQ was far less tense than the trip from it to Athena had been. Dot finally gave in to Wakko's pleas for food and took out the three sandwiches Rose had packed for them along with some… carrots? Strange choice for a snack, but at least their diet would be good. The sandwiches were even vegetarian.

Still, while his siblings made themselves comfortable in their seats and Dot kept complaining about Wakko eating everything, to which he answered that it was only fair since he'd been holding back the whole trip there, Yakko was trying to forget about the book. It was really strange, and he felt compelled to open it up just to see what had everyone so frazzled. The voice's reaction was mainly what had made him so interested in the thing in the first place, but Rose's nervousness when talking about it had definitely helped. Let alone the fact that the voice had reacted badly to something that Rose had asked him to get. What was the connection there? How did the voice even know it existed and that it was bad news?

What could be written inside? It said it was a diary, but  _whose_  diary was it? Maybe it was Rose's and that's why she was so adamant about him not reading it; it would be an invasion of her privacy to do so... The voice wouldn't have reacted that way it if that were the case though, right?

This book was important for some reason, and as Wakko and Dot kept yelling at each other and trying to claim the extra food as theirs, Yakko decided that he was going to find out why. Maybe Rose would give him a clue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the romance poll for anyone who wants to vote! http://www.strawpoll.me/16235325


	9. Chapter 9

When they returned from Athena and got back to the base with little to no trouble, Rose had immediately asked if they had gotten her book back, not even bothering to say anything else regarding the trip once Yakko had handed it to her.

She'd tried to shake off his curiosity, sliding subtly away from him and clutching at the book in her hands as if he would try to rip it from her. While Marilyn and StarDust made conversation with Wakko and Dot about the trip - how they found everything, if they had found the errand too hard or too easy, if the food had sufficed them for lunch and for a light snack - Yakko found himself fighting with Rose one-sidedly. All he wanted were answers, but she seemed set on not telling him anything.

"Can I ask who that person was?"

"Who?"

Rose continued to blatantly ignore his piercing eyes as she played around with the diary, lightly pressing a thumb over the words "My Diary".

"The one who gave us the book."

"An ally of ours."

Yakko rolled his eyes at the useless answer. What he was interested in was why they had hid from them and why they had those stitches on their hand and wrist. Warners in general may have been weird, but that was strange even by their standards.

"Care to expand on that?"

"No."

Rose, of course, ignored him, far too focused on practically carressing the book they'd brought back with them, being extra careful when she passed over a burn mark "The most I'll tell you is that her name is Alexandra and that I doubt you'll see her again."

\- I didn't really  _see_  her, but okay. -

Though he tried to contain a sigh from how closed off she was being, Yakko felt the name was familiar to him. He couldn't match it to a face, or to the voice he'd heard for that matter, but he'd at least heard the name in passing before.

Alexandra. Better make a mental note of her name.

He tried again "Could you tell me what that book is about?"

"It's a diary."

\- I figured. -

"May I ask whose diary it is?" Maybe being polite would do the trick in making her loose lipped.

Instead, Rose paused in her examining of the book and slowly cradled it to her chest, as if it was her most priced possession "It belonged to... a good friend of mine" her eyes were sad as she clutched it tighter "It's... a memento. She died a while ago."

Ouch. Well, no wonder she had been practically biting his head off for prying. Still...

"... Would you mind if I asked what happened to her?" he questioned tentatively. He didn't want to upset her, even less to intrude in on her private life, but he couldn't keep his mouth shut when he was interested in something. Such is one of his worst flaws.

What did he care what had happened though? It wasn't like he'd known this person. Yet... Rose was clearly upset by this, and for some reason he felt the urge to comfort her. He thought if she talked about it, maybe that would help. That was... what friends did, right?

They were friends now, right? At least Friendship Level 1? A Tragic Backstory was reserved for Level 4 friends and higher though.

Rose looked like she wanted to tell him to keep his nose out of her business, her expression hostile, but for some reason she answered anyway "Yes. Yes, I would mind. But..." she took a deep breath, letting it out and all her tenseness with it "There's not much to it anyway. Even I don't know the details."

Why was she telling him if she didn't want to? When she was clearly upset by what had happened?

... Was this her own way of showing they were friends now?

Rose sighed, walking slowly, maybe even sadly, over to the kitchen table and sitting down on one of the chairs, patting the one next to her in invitation. Shocked at the friendly gesture but pleased, he made his way and sat beside her.

"Remember that time in the forest, when you told us you couldn't remember anything from before you were nine?" she asked quietly, as if she too was afraid of stepping into prohibited territory.

However, their relationship had changed drastically by now, and though they didn't know each other very well yet he didn't mind sharing a few more things with her. That was the way they would get to learn more about each other after all.

"Yeah, I remember" he sent her a small encouraging smile, trying to tell her that it was okay "What about it?"

Slowly but surely, Rose returned his smile "Well, I felt bad for asking about it so offhandedly because... I kind of know how it feels, though not nearly to the same extent."

His eyebrows rose. Well, this was a surprise "You do?"

She nodded lightly "I have some blank patches in my memory from when I was little. Or, well, I guess it wouldn't be accurate to call them blank" she hummed for a moment, her brows furrowed in concentration "I guess it would be better to call them "missing pieces"?"

He only tilted his head a bit in confusion.

"It's like, I'll remember almost everything, but there'll be some things that are scribbled over in my memory" she attempted to explain, frustrated when it was clear he didn't exactly understand "I'll give you an example, it'll be easier."

"Suppose that I can remember myself sitting in a coffee shop with someone. I can remember the smell of coffee, the sound of the birds chirping outside" as the image presented itself in his head, Rose tapped her fingers on the table "But here's the thing: I can't remember who the person is, or their name. It's like they're a big black mass that has no face, even though I'm talking with them."

Oh, now that made a bit more sense "So people are blurred out?"

However, she shook her head "No, not just people in general. There's some specific people that I can't remember, and some details escape me too, even entire places sometimes" her expression turned a bit melancholic "My friend... is one of those people."

"So you can't...?" his voice turned soft. That was just... incredibly sad.

Rose clutched the book tighter to her chest "... Yeah. I can't remember her name or what she looked like. I was hoping that maybe... That maybe this diary would tell me something about her. I remember a bit of how she used to be, but not enough" she hung her head "But I'm a coward, I can't open it. I'm scared of what I'll read in it. It's foggy, but... I remember that she suffered a lot... and I don't want to read that."

She bit her lip, looking like she was about to start crying "I can... I can remember how she died, a little bit. I... I saw the light leave her eyes. She was... yelling something, but can't remember what."

There was a short period of silence, mostly because he was giving her time to try and compose herself. He didn't want to ask more than she could give, especially seeing how this was the first time he'd actually seen her vulnerable. This was her extending an olive branch and asking if they could be closer. At least, that's how he was interpreting it.

"Don't you have anyone who could help you remember?" his tone was still quiet, gentle. It seemed weird to him that StarDust and Marilyn would also lose their memory of this person simultaneously.

But Rose just shook her head again "They weren't there... I went to see her in secret" she fidgeted slightly in her seat, clearly uncomfortable revealing this "I can't remember the way there, but I know that she was somewhere inside the Forbidden Forest."

"… The Forbidden Forest?"

Rose just shrugged, clearly just as lost as to how that'd happened "I've no idea what she was doing in there, can't remember clearly. I just remember that she was in... a horrible place. It felt like a jail. Who knows... maybe it was a jail" she shivered slightly from the apparent memory, sending her sisters, who were still talking with Yakko's siblings, a sad look "Star said that the reason why I can't remember these things is probably because seeing her die was too traumatic... That I was forced to forget all of it so I wouldn't be triggered by thinking about her. Even the place where she was is blurry because of it."

It seemed logically sound. The death of a loved one, especially at such a young age, could be traumatic enough to make her want to forget what lead up to that event entirely. A self-defense mechanism that had sprung up without her even asking for it.

"Yours is a different case, isn't it? I mean, besides the fact that it was caused by head trauma and not a traumatic event" she asked, mostly rhetorically "You can't remember  _anything_?"

"Nothing" he sighed, giving his skull a soft frustrated tap, as if that would magically make him remember it all. Like on tv, where another hit to the head brought the memories back "The only clues I've got are dreams."

\- Mostly nightmares though. -

Rose nodded as if she understood "That happens to me too, though your dreams are probably a lot less comprehensible, huh?"

"Considering you have an estimate memory of what you're dreaming of while I've got nothing, yeah, I'd say so. They're a bit disorienting sometimes" he admitted, feeling a bit self-conscious about telling her all these things, but glad that he'd learned something new about her.

If they really were becoming friends then this whole ordeal would be a lot less painful than it had to be. He'd worry for their safety regardless of his attachment to them, so them becoming closer was actually something he craved. It'd been near impossible to become friends with the humans back at the studio, especially since they'd all been so much older than them. Having someone of his age that he wasn't directly responsible for to chat and laugh with would be... nice.

\-- ... What about me? I'm your friend. --

He almost flinched. Almost. Its tone was borderline cold.

\- Well, yeah, but... It's not really the same thing, is it? -

A twinge of discomfort settled in his stomach as he remembered its odd reaction to the diary earlier, making him rock slightly in the chair, frowning at the floor. Luckily Rose seemed to have slipped into her own thoughts as well, so she didn't question what he seemed so suddenly upset about, nor why he was so fidgety.

\-- What do you mean? Do friends have to be physical? Is there some sort of  _manual_  somewhere? --

Christ, there it went with the sarcasm. If he hadn't known the voice for so long, Yakko would have sworn it was jealous of his developping friendship with Rose... but he knew better. This wasn't about that at all.

\- Stop beating around the bush, you clearly don't want me becoming friends with them. Why? -

There was a pause in which it made a disgruntled sound, as if concerned about having gotten caught.

\-- ... They're bad news, especially Blondie. So's her book. --

What was its problem with the stupid book? Was it cursed or something? Rose had just made it sound like it was a harmless memento of her good friend.

\- What makes you say that? Give me one good reason why they're dangerous and I'll back off. -

\-- ... --

Figures.

It wasn't even trying to make up some excuse about how Rose had pointed a gun at him or about how the three sisters had put them in this dangerous situation. If its problem had been anything of the sort then it'd have told him way before then. It knew he wasn't stupid.

\-- … Look, I know how your instincts work. Believe it or not, I've seen a pattern during all the years I've known you, and… making friends is detrimental to your health, at least when we're in this much danger. --

It didn't…  _sound_  like it was lying? Its explanation didn't feel like the whole truth though.

\- "Detrimental to my health"? What are you even talking about? -

\-- You're going to feel responsible for their safety and happiness, Yakko, you always do. It's just... It's always ended badly for you. I don't want you to get hurt anymore. --

Something scratched at his memory, most likely examples of how this had happened in the past, but he didn't want to even think about it. He was  _not_  going to lose the chance to befriend the Milers just because the voice was worried. He wasn't going to let the opportunity for the TV-show style friendship he'd always craved escape because it wanted to keep him in a safe bubble.

\- I'm willing to take that risk. I don't need you to protect me, or rather to  _baby_  me, Voice. -

He could have sworn he felt the voice twitch in barely restrained anger.

\-- Is me trying to protect you a crime now? An "inconvenience" for you? Do you think I want you to be a lonely loser living in a cave with no friends for the rest of your life? --

Ouch, Yakko must have hit a nerve somewhere. He flinched back at the terse and annoyed tone, actually hurt by the words. Was that really how it saw him?

\-- All I'm trying to do is spare you the suffering, why can't you just accept that I know you more than you do yourself? Being friends with them is  _bad_ ; you already feel closer to Blondie just because you're both missing pieces of your memories, and it's only going to get worse from there. --

\-- You're going to get hurt and I'm not going to be the one rubbing your back and kissing your tears away when that happens, so. You're staying away from them and  ** _that's that_**. --

_Well_.

Yakko grit his teeth, feeling a cold rage he wasn't accostumed to. How  _dare_  it say it like that. Good intentions or no it was crazy if it thought he was going to let it control his life.

\- No. You don't get to decide that. -

The voice's anger only accumulated.

\-- Yakko- --

\- No! You're  _wrong_ , and I'm done listening to everything you say when you won't tell me anything! -

To his surprise the voice let out a sarcastic yet strained laugh, practically radiating pain. Yakko could picture it with a wry smile on its face.

\-- What are you saying? You  _never_  listen to me. You  _never_  let me help. You'd always rather shoulder everything on your own until it explodes in your face! --

It had started talking sarcastically and obviously annoyed, but by the end it begun yelling the words in frustration, startling Yakko. He was completely incredulous.

_God_ , was it seriously saying this? Was it seriously griping at  _him_  for keeping it at a distance? Like it hadn't been doing that itself his whole life? What a hypocrite.

\- Well maybe, if you weren't just a stupid voice in my head, I would listen to you more. Maybe, if I actually believed you could help, I would be letting you give me advice.  _Maybe_ , if you were  _honest_  with me instead of  _hiding_  all the time, we wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. -

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Yakko was legitimately upset. He'd been friends with the voice since he could remember, and yet almost a decade had passed and it still didn't trust him enough to tell him anything about itself. No name, no reason as to how it'd ended up in his head, no mention of his past that he was a hundred percent sure the voice knew at least something about...

\- I'm so  _tired_  of you being secretive. We've been together for seven years, and yet you still can't trust me. How do you think that makes me feel? Do you think I'm happy that you won't talk to me? That I have to worry that you're just a figment of my imagination? -

\- I can't just let you boss me around and then let you hide huge things from me, I can't let you isolate me because you think I'll be safer that way. I can't. Let you.  _Control my life_. -

Deafening silence rung in his head, with him barely holding back an upset sniffle. He'd actually managed to work himself up.

Then, a moment later, the voice spoke again.

\-- ... Nine. --

Yakko paused.

\- What? -

\-- ... We've been together for nine years, give or take a few months. --

He... didn't know what to say to that. The voice's tone had become flat and unequivocally  _exhausted_. That fact didn't change anything though, if anything it just made him more upset.

\- ... So there's two whole years together with you that I'm completely missing from my memory. Did you think that was going to make me feel better? -

\-- No. Just saying. --

"Uh... Yakko?"

He blearily noticed Rose was staring at him in concern, waving a hand in front of his face, but he couldn't bring himself to bother with her right then.

\- Nothing you say can change my mind, you know. I've already decided. -

\-- ... --

A tired sigh.

\-- Okay. --

He blinked rapidly, confused. "Okay"? It really was convinced just like that?

\- ... I'm going to be their friend. -

\-- Okay. --

\- And I'm not going to take any precautions. -

\-- Okay. --

... That was just worrisome. The tired and empty tone hadn't left it, instead becoming more robotic, icy. It sounded like it had completely given up.

Yakko tried not to fidget, concerned that he'd actually upset the voice. Though, now that he thought about it, he'd... been a bit cruel, hadn't he?

Okay, scratch that- He'd been really cruel. The constant hiding was a problem for him, a big one, but... The voice was his friend, and still he'd argued with it as if it were his enemy. It didn't deserve that. Objectively, Yakko knew it only had his best interests at heart, despite how it could act sometimes.

Besides, despite all the problems, he still valued its friendship too much to leave things like that...

\- I'm sorry, I went too far. You know I don't think you're a bad guy, right? -

\-- ... Okay. --

\- Don't just say "okay", I'm serious. -

\-- ... What else... am I supposed to say... ? --

His back immediately straightened, his eyes widening in shock and horror.  _Shit_.

Its tone was so wobbly and sad, it sounded like it was on the verge of crying. He hadn't thought his words would upset it that much!

\- Oh no, no no no I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! I was just upset! Y-You know how I get! -

To his dismay he heard a couple of hiccups and sniffs, betraying the fact that if the voice had had a face it would have been wet with tears. Small ones though, thankfully it wasn't outright sobbing.

\- I'm sorry for what I said, you didn't deserve that- -

\-- Don't. I'm... I'm taking a nap. --

\- But Voice-! -

\--  _Goodnight_. --

As if the voice had never spoken to begin with, it went completely silent, to the point where Yakko could barely sense it anymore- and in the same moment, Rose jumped in her chair, making him jump too, in surprise to what she'd done.

"What the-" her eyes were wide, holding her chair with a white-knuckled grip.

"What? What happened?" Yakko looked around himself frantically to search for the source of Rose's distress, but he didn't see anything.

"Your- Eyes, they were-..." her eyebrows were so furrowed Yakko was almost convinced her face would get stuck like that "How did you...?"

"How did I what?"

"Do...  _that_."

"" _That_ "?"

"With your eyes! How did you make them change color like that?" she jumped in her seat, now more intrigued than alarmed.

"Change... color?" he blinked confusedly. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah! They went red and pointy and-"

"Rose!"

At the call, Rose turned her head to the side and Yakko followed her gaze. Marilyn was waving her over excitedly from the circle she, StarDust, Wakko, and Dot had made while talking, jumping up and down as if she had great news to tell her "Wakko and Dot were just asking about this new move you taught them- Mind coming over here and explaining it again?"

Wakko and Dot looked over from their place beside the two sisters, their smiles big, but their eyes distressed.

And Yakko felt himself tense instantly because he could tell at first glance that his siblings were not interested in being taught the move again at all. The reason why Marilyn was calling Rose over was because his siblings had wanted to distract Rose from whatever she had just seen. It meant that not only had they been paying attention, but that they were aware enough of what had happened to want to hide it from Rose.

Now, the question was: What  _had_  just happened? He hadn't felt any different, but... the voice...

God, he felt like such a jerk. Sure, it'd crossed a line, but Yakko had gone on a full-on rant and had basically called it an obsessive control freak. A little too far for his taste. Or a lot. He'd reacted to a fear of the unknown and of being trapped, but... still.

Really though, was a name too much to ask for? Was it too much to ask what it was doing in his head? How it'd gotten there? Knowing would certainly make him trust it more, because he would know a bit more about it.

He  _wanted_  to know more. He wanted to be able to trust it more. He just... He just wanted for things to be okay between them...

With a distressed huff he squared his shoulders and decided to forget about it for now. He'd let the voice cool off until bedtime... Then he'd apologize properly, like he was supposed to.

"Yeah, yeah" Rose sighed to her twin sister, getting up from the chair and taking the book with her. He would have been sad that she didn't trust him enough to leave the book there on the table, but it was very important to her, so he understood. Baby steps.

As Rose moved away, sending him one last curious look, Yakko resolved on forgetting about the odd "eye-color change" for now too. He wasn't really in the mood for an investigation, and it'd probably been a trick of the light anyway.

Instead, he supposed it would be good to find something to distract himself with, so while the blonde showed his siblings the move they had demanded to be taught again, he offered to cook dinner.

"You can cook?" Rose sounded incredulous, while StarDust looked mildly curious and Marilyn grinned at the thought of possibly better food than what her twin made.

"Yup" he merely responded, standing a little straighter with pride. He didn't want to brag, but he was pretty good at cooking.

"His pizza is the nectar of the gods" Wakko's eyes twinkled just thinking about the delicious meal, completely forgetting about the move Rose had been showing them. He bounced over excitedly to his older brother and crashed into his side to hold onto his arm in a vice grip "Can you make some? We haven't had any since we came here!"

"Yeah, I miss your food!" Dot agreed, sending him a big grin "I may be the cute one, but you're the chef."

"I like that idea" Marilyn smiled at him "Doesn't even have to be pizza- I'd take almost anything right about now."

Rose however, rolled her eyes "Don't encourage him. I bet the two menaces are just exaggerating."

The "menaces" turned to look at Rose with offended eyes, giving her a pout "We are not!"

"They aren't. I'm just that good" Yakko chuckled softly when the blonde sent him an un-amused look "What? Afraid everyone's going to love my cooking more than yours when they try it?"

"My food is great, shut up!" Rose stuck her tongue out at him to show him she was just playing along with his teasing.

"I didn't say it was bad, I just said mine is better" he grinned big at her when she just glowered at him. This was just the kind of distraction he needed.

"Can you cook for us? Pleeeeeeeease?" Marilyn sent him a pleading look, her eyes wide and batting her eyelashes.  _Why_  had Dot taught her that? "I'm tired of eating potato salad every other day" then she leaned over to him and put a hand around her mouth, as if she was going to tell him a secret "And Rose underseasons the food."

"I do not!" she protested, ramrod straight and with an insulted expression on her face "It's not my fault salt is so expensive!"

"We're princesses Rose, I think we can afford some goddamn salt" Marilyn rolled her eyes, and StarDust lightly hit her over the head for swearing. The younger just pouted at her while rubbing her head on principle.

"It's not the only seasoning you can use though" Yakko shrugged "Ever heard of pepper? Basil? Oregano?"

"What the flying fuck is an "orekao"?" Rose looked at him as if he'd gone crazy.

"Ore _gano_ , they're dried leaves mostly used in Italian or American cooking, but you can also find it in many other parts of the world" he explained, chuckling when the blonde just kept staring at him with a blank expression.

"Why the hell do you know that?"

"Cooking shows, of course. I have plenty more useless food facts if you want any."

Rose opened her mouth, probably to ask what other kind of odd facts he knew, but instead she shook her head with a smile "No thanks, that was something I didn't need to know."

"But now you do!" he smiled at her, teasingly "Aren't you glad to have learned something new?"

"Okay, fine" she rolled her eyes, but punched him playfully on the arm when she walked over to him nonetheless "But you better be as good as those two say you are" she smiled at him, gesturing at his siblings.

"Of course I am!" he grinned, secretly glad to be useful for something "Just give me the right ingredients and I'll get right to it."

"I too am interested in seeing your culinary skills" StarDust nodded and Yakko almost jumped in surprise when she sent him a small smile. He'd been graced by the elusive StarDust smile! Wow "I will admit it would be nice to eat something different for once."

"Man, if you guys are going to complain about my cooking so much then let Yakko be the new chef" Rose huffed, sulkily turning away to sit back down at the dinner table.

"Aw, don't be sad Rose" he slid over to her, giving her a fake pouty look over the table "I for one love your underseasoned potato salad."

"Shut up" she slapped him away lightly, but sent him an unwilling smile "Though... I want to eat pizza every once in a while too."

"The leader has spoken: We're getting pizza tonight as celebration for you guys' first completed mission!" Marilyn laughed and celebrated doing a silly dance, and his siblings only stared at her for a moment before shrugging and joining in. StarDust just watched and shook her head, but she was chuckling in amusement.

Pizza celebration dance was a thing, apparently.

Yakko turned to get into the kitchen to start preparing the food, taking out the ingredients while Rose sat at the table with her chin in her hand, staring at what he was doing. Once he'd taken out everything he needed - curiously they had all the necessary ingredients... Someone had planned this and Yakko suspected his siblings had something to do with it - Rose hummed to attract his attention.

"I bet it'll taste like feet" she cheerily mocked him, kicking her legs back and forth happily.

Yakko just turned around to look at her with a sickeningly sweet, and threatening, smile "I'll make you eat those words."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Children, stop fighting.


	10. Chapter 10

Rose did end up eating her words. She ate them as topping for the fantastic pizzas he'd made.

The dinner table was as animated as ever, the slices of cheesy Cappresse pizzas being passed around and everyone barely stopping short of hugging them to their chests as if they'd been given gold. Even Rose, who had been initially skeptical about his skills as a cook, ended up asking for seconds and telling Yakko to shut up when he sent her a smug smirk.

"You've proven yourself worthy of the title of God of Cooking. Again" Wakko hummed happily as he ate his fifth slice of pizza. Yakko had half-heartedly berated him for eating so much but couldn't really be upset about it "Are you Hestia's cousin or something?"

"Bet you don't even know who Hestia is" Dot sent him an annoyed smile, mostly trying to aggravate him because she couldn't eat as much as her endless hole of a brother. She wanted to taste the pizza some more but she was full.

"She's the greek Goddess of the hearth. Duh" Wakko snorted against his glass, sending his sister a look that said 'you won't embarrass me today, demon' "I'm surprised  _you_  know who she is. I know because I know everything there is to know about food."

"Are you passionate for anything that  _isn't_  food, Wakko?" Yakko sent him an exasperated look when he stood up to get out yet another pizza from the oven "You should get a hobby or something."

"Building stuff counts!" he pouted at his older brother, perfectly okay with Dot being mean to him but not Yakko "... It does, right?"

When he looked around the table for some reassurance, Marilyn stopped eating to pat Wakko's head with the hand she hadn't been scarfing down pizza with "Of course it does, Wak. And you're good at it too."

Wakko beamed at her and Dot rolled her eyes, ignoring the small moment between teacher and pupil to smile at Yakko and compliment his food.

"It's almost as delicious as I am cute."

"Almost?" Yakko sent her a pointed look, but he was smiling.

Dot giggled "Almost."

Accepting that that was the best compliment his little sister could dish out, Yakko just shrugged and went to put another pizza on the table so that Rose and Wakko wouldn't start fighting for the last slices. They both got cranky when they were hungry.

When he went to sit at the table again, Marilyn stopped her chat with everyone else and jumped at him, almost making both of them fall to the floor.

"Will you cook for me for the rest of my life if I ask for your hand in marriage?" Yakko only stood there awkwardly with her arms around him, looking down at her, speechless, as she looked up to him with pleading, though playful, eyes "Your pizza's so good I want to cry."

"Mary, you're being melodramatic" Rose rolled her eyes, but she wasn't denying her statement of how good his pizza was "I doubt he'd want to marry such a hyper-active person."

Marilyn stuck her tongue out at her sister, which Rose returned, and Yakko just suppressed a snort and laughed out "Sorry, I'm taken."

The teen gasped incredulously in his arms "You are not!" her interested grin was huge "Do we know them? Are they cute?"

This time Yakko did snort, and Rose had to let out a sigh because her sister was being dumb "He's kidding, sis. Who would he even be taken by? The only people in WarnerStock he knows that aren't in this room he only chatted with for a few minutes. I'm... pretty sure."

"Well, I mean you never know. He could've been dating a human before they came here or something" Marilyn's eyebrows furrowed a bit in disappointment "Too bad though. Here I thought we were going to get some cute couples around here."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but a human, really?" Yakko smiled in amusement at the mere thought.

"I don't know about the couple discussion, but I do agree with the statements about the food" StarDust ate quietly and neatly and happily complimented the food with a bigger smile than before that made Yakko feel accomplished. Getting two StarDust smiles in less than twenty-four hours was a pretty good record "I'd vote for you to become our new chef, if there were an election."

Rose just raised her hands up in surrender "Look, if nobody complains about my potato salad anymore Yakko can start slaving away in the kitchen instead of me from now on. I have no problem with it."

"Looks like you're going to be cooking a lot more often, eh, Yakko?" Marilyn chuckled and elbowed him gently, but Yakko was barely listening because all he heard was "cook" and "more". For the record, he was ecstatic at being able to cook again.

"Cool" was all he could get out, his eyes passing along the table and seeing everyone smiling and chatting together. It brought a smile to his face; he had always thought that food tasted better when everyone was having fun.

"Three cheers for the new cook!" Wakko laughed as he fist pumped the air, and with a happy aura, everyone played along. Yakko couldn't resist ruffling his little brother's hair at that.

Everyone kept munching away at their food happily, the conversation light. It was such a happy atmosphere; Yakko was actually surprised that, for all the stress he'd been under the first few days with the Milers, life with them was rather tranquil, and even fun, aside from the intense training sessions. Their lives had almost normalized.

That was not to say however, that Yakko didn't know that this calm wouldn't last forever. He was painfully aware of the fact that they would start doing more dangerous and risky things, and rather soon at that. The worry and anxiousness would be back, and when it happened, he'd have to be ready to use his skills for more than just knocking over dummies at the gym.

He might have to use them to kill people.

Yakko shivered at the thought, even though the air around him was relaxed and happy. They wouldn't have to go that far, would they? It was a war though... Rose had already told him that many had died back when the first revolution against the Warner king had happened, and now that the population was starving even more warners were dying, even if it wasn't in battle. They had to stop this in whichever way possible, and if the only way was killing their enemies, then they would have to do it regardless of their morals. It didn't mean he wanted to though. Just thinking about bringing a knife or a gun to a person's throat simply to threaten them made his stomach churn, made his hands twitch.

"Speaking of which," StarDust interrupted whatever conversation the rest of the group had been having while he'd been lost in his thoughts, using her napkin to clean her mouth. Her eyes had turned serious "You've heard the rumor going around, haven't you?"

The other four people looked up from their food, but while Wakko and Dot looked curious as to what the oldest Milers was talking about, Rose and Marilyn's smiles turned into straight lines. Yakko knew the topic of conversation had been changed to something important and thus tried to calm himself down and listen. He'd have the chance to question whether he'd have the guts to kill someone another day.

"You don't think it's true, do you?" Marilyn turned concerned eyes toward Rose, who merely shrugged as an answer "It's really far-fetched..."

"What is?" it seemed the tension had been too much for his younger sister, because Dot stopped drinking to regard StarDust with a light frown "What's the rumor?"

"Some people have been saying that they've seen the prince walking around Artemis" the oldest explained, and this was where Yakko became so intrigued that he couldn't help asking questions himself.

"The prince? You're searching for him, right?"

Rose had said the guy was very important, and that the three Milers wanted to put him up on the throne in the stead of his father, the king. They didn't know if he was alive though, so it was obvious that they were all skeptical to believe the rumor.

"Yeah" Rose answered him, her eyebrows furrowed as she most likely processed StarDust's words "But it would be strange for him to be around Artemis if he's alive. He's smart, so I'd bet if he were alive, he would be hiding."

"Are you sure people didn't mistake someone else for him?" Marilyn was the one who was the least ready to believe this, but her eyes shone with hope, as if she wanted to believe he was alive, but didn't want to risk getting hurt by a fake rumor "I mean, even if he  _were_  walking around, he would at least wear a disguise."

"Who would be mistaken for him?" StarDust shook her head "The signs of the Royal Family are obvious no matter how much he may try to hide them."

"No, but, Mary has a point" Rose had her hand on her mouth, eyes narrowed in deep thought "I mean, Yakko, Wakko and Dot all have black hair and eyes, so it's not impossible for some other really distant relatives of the Warner family to be out there. Hell, it's possible people mistook  _this_ doofus for Elias" she snorted, waving her hand in a dead-panning Yakko's general direction.

"So you're saying I have a face like a prince's?" Yakko jokingly swished his hair to the side as if to look handsome and batted his eyelashes, which made Wakko and Dot giggle from their seats.

"No, I'm saying you're the right age and just have the same characteristics" Rose rolled her eyes, but it was clear from the smile on her face that she was more amused than annoyed "You carry more the air of a peasant, not a prince."

Yakko huffed and his siblings laughed louder "Rude."

"Always am" the blonde smirked at him, but quickly became serious again to regard her sisters "But in all seriousness- I think we should look into it anyway. Where there's smoke, there's probably fire."

So now they were going to be stuck searching around town for some guy that might or might not be the prince?

Sighing and letting his face fall against the table, Yakko glanced at Rose "Sounds incredibly boring."

"Well excuse me, nobody said this was going to be exciting" Rose then proceeded to lean over in her seat and flick his nose.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?"

"That was for whining like a brat in front of your leader."

"Children, stop fighting" Marilyn lightly berated them, a grin on her face "We should just keep our eyes peeled whenever we go outside. Going around in circles searching for someone who may not even be there would be pointless."

That was what was agreed on as Yakko noticed that every single slice of pizza he'd made had vanished and only pitiful crumbs rested where food should have been. A question of who was going to clean the dishes was all that was needed for everyone to understand that dinner had ended and that it was time to go to bed.

Rose offered to clean the plates since she apparently wasn't going to cook anymore, and Yakko gratefully left the job to her before following the rest of the group to the back of the base, where the bedrooms were. He slipped into his and Rose's room and plopped himself down on his bed, completely exhausted despite the fact that all he'd really done that day had been walk around aimlessly through Athena and cook some pizzas. He just shrugged to himself and supposed that had been productive enough.

Still, he wanted to do one more thing.

As he lied down on his side, Yakko attempted to call the voice out. He still felt terrible for the things he'd said, didn't think he'd be able to truly relax until he properly apologized.

\- ... Hey... -

\-- ... --

\- ... I... I'm sorry. -

\-- ... --

\- ... Are you still angry at me? -

Yakko heard a low grumble, one that sounded reluctant.

\-- ... Not really. I'm... kind of angry at myself. --

The voice still sounded kind of sad, making Yakko feel even worse. He really hadn't thought his words would affect it that much, he'd just expected it to get mad or annoyed, like usual... Not cry.

\-- ... I'm sorry for acting like that. I shouldn't be berating you just because you're trying to make friends. --

\- I appreciate it, but I really shouldn't have said those things to you either. -

He could tell the voice was smiling at him, though it was sadly.

\-- It hurt to hear, but I know you didn't mean it. I'm just... I'm really worried about you... --

The fact that it brought this up again made Yakko want to roll his eyes, but he just rolled over in his bed instead, burying his face further into the pillow. His mood dampened the slightest bit.

\- I told you I'm fine. -

\-- ... It's not how you are  _now_  that's worrying me, Yakko. --

That made him open his eyes half-way and actually frown a little.

\- What do you mean? -

The voice shuffled around anxiously in his head. Don't ask Yakko how he knew what the voice was doing when it didn't exactly have a body and he couldn't see it move, he just knew. It was kind of weird.

\-- Remember how I told you that coming to WarnerStock was a bad idea? --

\- Yeah? -

It sighed, and the sound was so filled with dread that Yakko felt a bit scared for a moment, feeling, not for the first time, like the voice knew something big that he wasn't aware of and that that was what it was afraid of.

\-- It has to do with that. --

\- Can't you just tell me what it is? -

\-- ... I wish I could tell you Yakko, really... but I can't. --

Yakko just groaned in response, feeling the last of his good mood evaporating and being replaced with annoyance instead. He scoffed.

\- Should've known. -

\-- ... Please don't be angry at me... I really can't tell you. I'm being honest with you here. --

The voice sounded too sincere for Yakko to be upset at it. It still sounded so sad... as if not telling him whatever it was hiding from him was making it miserable. Hearing it like that made  _him_  miserable.

\- ... Why? What could be so terrible that you have to hide like this all the time? -

His thought was soft, and if he could have touched the voice he would have hugged it right then and there.

\-- Because if you knew... You'd get hurt. Badly. --

Him? Hurt?

\- Why would I...? -

His stomach made a displeased sound and Yakko felt it churn. Somehow, he felt like his body was trying to tell him that the voice was right.  _"You don't want to know what it's hiding"_  he felt like it was saying to him, but he just cradled it in his hands and wished he didn't have to keep wondering. Because not knowing something that would apparently hurt him made him feel worse than it probably would feel just to  _know_.

He hated not knowing.

\-- Can we drop it? ... Please? I really can't give you an answer. --

His stomach twisted unhappily again, but Yakko just sighed.

Someday, he told himself. Someday, he would know what the voice was and what it was hiding from him.

... It just wouldn't be that day.

\- Fine. But only if you tell me something else. -

If the voice had had ears, they would have twitched up with curiousness.

\-- Okay. I'll answer to the best of my ability. --

Yakko took a deep breath, though he didn't really need to since he wasn't using his vocal cords, and asked.

\- What's your name? -

The voice only groaned, as if it had actually been expecting a cool question on its blog and just got stuck with one that was already answered in its Q&A.

\-- Yakko, we talked about this. --

\- Vooooooooice- -

\-- Hey! I told you not to call me that! --

\- That's why I'm asking you to give me something to call you by! You never even told me what gender you are so I have to think of you as an it. -

It huffed, offended.

\-- I don't even get "they" as a pronoun? You have to use one you use to describe  _things_  with? --

\- I'm sorry, okay, I don't even know what you  _are_. -

There was a short silence in his head, kind of a sad silence, and then, the voice sighed.

\-- ... I'm a boy. --

The voice had actually answered one of his questions.

Were pigs flying?

Yakko could have jumped in the air and made the same silly dance Marilyn had started when she was told he was making pizza, but he refrained because Rose could walk in on him doing that. And he certainly didn't want that to happen.

\- Okay! Okay. You're a boy. Now, about your name... -

\-- Yakko. --

\- Voice. -

\-- Stop it! --

The voice's tone was annoyed, but Yakko figured that if  _he_  wasn't going to tell him his name, then Yakko was just going to annoy him until he told him.

\- Tell me your name then. -

\-- ... --

\- Well? -

The voice groaned and after a moment, responded.

\-- Joey. --

At first Yakko was going to take it for truth and attempt to do another happy dance- but something tugged at his memory and he narrowed his eyes in suspicion instead. What had been the last show they'd watched together again...?

\- That's not your name. -

\-- ... How would you know? --

Just the tone of his voice made it clear that he had not only been caught red handed, but that he was outright playing with him. A snort escaped Yakko, even though he was trying to be mad.

\- Because that's the name of one of the freaking Friend's cast, you doofus. -

Instead of responding the voice just laughed, a surprisingly high giggle considering his tone usually sounded pretty deep. It made it super hard for Yakko to be angry.

\- Yeah, yeah, you're sooooo funny. Ha-ha. -

He sounded painfully sarcastic, but he couldn't stop a smile from forming.

\-- Sorry. I couldn't resist, hehe. --

\- Okay, smart guy. What if I give you a nickname instead? Is that bad too? -

Almost instantly, Yakko felt how the amusement left the voice, leaving emptiness instead. He could only frown in confusion at the sudden change in mood.

\-- ... I don't know if I'd be comfortable with that. --

\- Um. Why? -

\-- ... Just 'cause. --

... Oooookay, that was a little weird.

\- You got something against nicknames? -

\-- ... --

\- Come on, Voice, don't leave me hanging. -

A pause.

\-- If you give me a nickname I'll start calling you Yaya. --

\- ... You wouldn't. -

\--  _I would_. --

Okay, maybe he should leave the matter alone. That nickname was  _super_  embarrassing, and he didn't really want to have to hear it on a regular basis.

\- Okay, okay, I won't! ... Just don't call me that. Ever. -

The voice's response was merely another giggle, which Yakko responded to with a small smile. As he thought about it though, it slowly left his face.

... Still no name, huh.

Yakko didn't really like calling his friend "the voice" either... It was such a tired argument between them, so why wouldn't he just give him  _something_?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

"Oh. You're still awake."

He was actually thankful that Rose decided to make an appearance at that moment, because she successfully gave him a reason not to talk to the voice anymore and not make things any more awkward than they already were.

"Yeah" he merely answered, sitting up on his bed and following Rose with his eyes when she went over to their shared wardrobe, searching for her sleep-clothes.

"What were you doing before I came in? Staring at the ceiling?" the blonde sent him a smirk, but upon looking at his expression, which Yakko supposed was both sad and annoyed, her smile fell "Is something wrong?"

"... No, I was just thinking" he lied, turning around and attempting to hide his face from Rose. Wakko and Dot said his nose twitched when he lied, so he should try to keep his face hidden.

She just sent him a soft look in response "Thinking about sad stuff?"

"... Yeah."

Rose sat down next to him on his bed, poking him gently on his back to make him look at her "Is it something I can help with?"

Yakko wanted to tell her that no, she couldn't help with this, but then he thought something.

Maybe the voice would never tell him anything about himself but... Yakko could still ask others. They could have answers. What if the voice was actually something that some warners have? What if Yakko having the voice was normal?

... But what if he got the courage to ask and it wasn't normal?

"What if I told you something crazy? Something that would be hard to believe?" he turned around to look at her, his brows furrowed, and she stared back with a surprised expression at his words "Would you believe me?"

Her eyes looked to the side before focusing back on him, but she looked skeptical "... Depends on what it is."

Well, at least she was honest.

The truth was, Yakko had been questioning his whole life whether the voice was real or not. He knew what his psychiatrist had said, but... The voice just felt so real. He couldn't have possibly made him up, could he? He wasn't nearly that creative.

Yakko wanted to know, he wanted others to help him figure the mystery out, but what if the sisters thought he was nuts and sent him to a mental hospital or something? That would be the worst case scenario, because he could handle seeing a psychiatrist every few days if it turned out he really did have a problem and the voice was nothing more than a part of his imagination, he'd already been doing that anyway. But being sent to a mental hospital?

That just sounded nightmarish. Not only would he be too far away to protect his brother and sister as much as possible but... Well, he didn't know what conditions the mental hospitals of WarnerStock were in. For all he knew, it would be like it was in the old days for the humans- hell, even nowadays they were still terrifying. The conditions the patients were kept in, most treated like animals or like wastes of space... He was scared of all of that. He didn't want to end up like that.

Rose must have noticed his tenseness in the silence, because she just sighed softly and did something unexpectedly gentle, coming from her.

She brought a hand to his hair and softly ruffled it, though it was so gentle that it felt more like petting. It made his chest feel warm.

"You don't have to tell me right now if you're so worried about it" her voice was soft, and when he looked up at her through his bangs that Rose had mussed up so they were in his face, speechless, she gave him a small smile "But I would like it if you could confide in me, no matter what about. I'll do my best to understand and help you, and Star and Mary will too. For all three of you."

When she took her hand away from his hair and stood up to fetch her clothes, seemingly in embarrassment at what she'd just done, he had to bring his hands up to his head, his eyes a bit wider.

"... Thanks. I'll keep it in mind."

"Good" she busied herself with opening the wardrobe and taking out a pair of shorts and a tank top, and then she turned to head out of the room, most likely to the bathroom so she could change "Just... Don't stress yourself any more than necessary, okay?"

With those words, she was out of the room, and Yakko couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face at how nice she'd been. For all their banter and occasional fighting, Rose seemed like she liked him as a person, and he could safely say that he liked her as a person too- even as a friend at this point. He wondered if he'd been upgraded from Person-I-Tolerate to Friend in her book yet, but he wouldn't let it bother him, not after she'd told him about her friend. That had to mean she at least trusted him a little, right?

Actually, he was surprised that the voice hadn't stopped him to tell him not to tell Rose about his existence. He had been pretty adamant about Yakko not coming into contact with her more than it was strictly necessary, so that was odd.

Yakko softly, very softly, called out to the voice, wondering if he was asleep already.

\- ... You awake? -

When the only answer he received was a soft sigh that he only noticed because he'd been concentrating really hard, he shook his head. Yep, the voice was asleep already and hadn't heard his conversation with Rose. Which, he supposed was a good thing, but it still meant that the voice probably wouldn't be happy if Yakko tried to discuss him with the three sisters, and Yakko didn't want to make the voice angry, or sad.

But not knowing was  _killing him_ , and Yakko needed answers. He could bear with his doubts for a bit longer, but he wouldn't be able to stand it if he never found out anything else about the voice. Just the thought depressed him.

Rose returned from changing five minutes later and closed the door behind her, avoiding Yakko's gaze as she slipped into her own bed. She still seemed embarrassed that she'd been so nice to him, and he had to stop himself from giggling as he nuzzled into his pillow, ready to sleep.

There was just one last thing he wanted to do though.

"Goodnight Rose."

The girl almost jumped in her bed at his words, because they'd never said goodnight to each other before, since it'd been too awkward, but he'd felt it necessary this time. Sort of a "thank you" for her earlier reassurance.

Besides, they were close enough to at least say goodnight to each other, right?

He stared at her back that was facing him for the ten seconds that it took her to let out a soft, happy snort. He knew she was smiling.

"Goodnight Yakko."

Yakko smiled as he sighed softly too, resting his head on his pillow. Too bad the voice was already asleep, because he'd wanted to say goodnight to him too.

Oh well. There was always next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep in mind that Yakko's limited knowledge of how mental hospitals work comes from tv and movies, so, he only knows the nightmarish version of them. I, personally, dunno how they actually are, but I certainly hope they're far better than what our media will have us believe.
> 
> Also, we finally got to the chapter where I announce the voice's gender. Yay!


	11. Chapter 11

"Come on!" Rose groaned, pushing an already stumbling and rather exhausted Yakko in the direction of the punching bag he hadn't even made sway "A baby squirrel could punch harder than you!"

"Well maybe if I hadn't been running for three hours nonstop earlier-" he panted, turning his head to scowl at the girl, debating on using his fists to pummel Rose to the ground instead of the punching bag in front of him "Maybe then I would be able to punch harder than a baby squirrel."

"I don't care if you've been running for three hours or chipping rocks for a whole day under the burning sun like a goddamn prisoner" Rose growled at him, taking a step forward "I want you to use a right hook to take that bag off the air and onto the ground."

He might as well have fallen to the ground in shock at her words.

Surely she didn't actually expect him to be able to do that? After all the abuse his body had already gone through that day? He was pretty sure it was impossible.

"You're demanding too much of me!" he gasped out, his chest heaving up and down with the effort to even keep himself upright "I'm at my limit here!"

Rose shook her head, glaring at him, the artificial light over her head making a menacing shadow fall over her face "You're not. I know what your limit is, and this isn't it. My job is to force you to  _surpass_  your limits, make you stronger! Faster! More agile! I'm not going to go soft on you just because you're still a newbie."

"Jesus, I'm just asking for a little rest!" his legs were shaking so much they could be jello with an odd flavor. Nobody wanted warner-leg jello. Not even Wakko would eat it.

"And you will rest" Rose nodded, but before Yakko could even think of being relieved, she finished with "After you take down that bag and do fifty squats."

He did a double-take.

"Are you trying to kill me!?"

"No, you're more use to me alive. If I do kill you, it'll be after we dethrone Athena."

At any other time, Yakko would have understood that that had been a joke, albeit a slightly tasteless one. As he was now, he was honestly in danger of dying and was actually worried Rose would murder him because of over-exertion.

"But-"

"No buts. I want to see you punching that thing until-"

"Rose."

Thankfully for him, StarDust chose that very moment to interrupt, walking quickly across the short distance between the door to the hallway and the inside of the gymnasium, where they were in. She was holding an envelope in her hands.

"What is it Star?" Rose's entire demeanor changed when she faced her older sister, her expression now relaxed, no longer looming. Yakko just let himself fall on his bottom and tried to stretch his sore muscles. His expression was one of pure misery.

StarDust didn't say anything else, she merely handed Rose the letter with the wax seal and watched as Rose's peaceful expression turned into a deep frown. And when Rose groaned like she was just done with everything life had to offer, Yakko, as usual, couldn't stop his curiosity from popping up.

"What does it say?" he asked, wanting to stand up and look over Rose's shoulder to see what had annoyed her so much, but he couldn't really stand at the moment. Or move at all.

"We've been summoned" was all a glaring Rose said to him through gritted teeth as she threw the letter in the air. StarDust, as if anticipating her younger sister's childish move, merely caught the piece of paper fluttering in the air, giving it a read herself.

"Summoned?" finally regaining some of his breath, Yakko stood up from the cold gym floor, walking forward to follow Rose back to the hallway "Summoned where?"

"To the castle" StarDust answered him, having finished reading the letter. Her eyes were even more serious than before; maybe even a little angry "Athena wants to see us."

He froze when the monarch's name was uttered "... The queen?"

From all the things Rose had told him about her, Yakko didn't want to have anything to do with the woman. Considering that they were supposed to take her off the throne, this was certainly a good thing, but... He was scared of meeting her in person. What if she was a frail, frightened old lady who cowardly hid behind her guards to protect herself? Would he really be able to hurt such a pitiful creature?

He'd been thinking about his morals and what he would be prepared to do should he be told to far too much lately. Ever since he'd questioned whether he would be able to kill someone on command a week before, when they'd all been happily eating pizza that he'd cooked, these thoughts had been plaguing his brain.

What unsettled him wasn't the thought that he would probably have to kill someone... In fact, it was  _that_  which unsettled him, the fact that he  _wasn't_  distressed by the thought of having to kill. He'd never actually been afraid of having to murder someone- just of the thought that he found it... oddly not scary. Awful, yes, something he rebelled against completely, but not scary. Never scary. No, he was scared of himself for treating the matter so calmly and logically, almost completely disregarding any sort of emotional reaction he might have had.

He wondered if the sisters felt the same, if he'd just gotten this feeling early into the game and it was merely a secondary symptom of being a veteran in this field. He wondered if Rose would laugh at him if he told her in a worried voice that he was scared of  _not_  being scared of killing someone, if she would tell him it was okay and that his feelings had become numb for his body to function correctly in such a traumatic situation.

But he had the feeling that, instead, she would look at him oddly, and ask him if he'd ever committed murder before; if it was something normal for him. Because he was scared of such a response, he decided he wouldn't ask.

Instead, he set out to follow Rose outside of the gym, through the hallway and to the entrance of their little modernized cave. He heard voices from the hallway, heard Marilyn and StarDust calling for Wakko and Dot, who'd no doubt been busy with their own work.

In a bit, they were all standing in front of the big metal garage door, the three sisters muttering among themselves. His siblings sent him questioning looks, but Yakko merely shrugged because he wasn't so sure what was happening yet. Marilyn did eventually turn from the conversation she'd been having with her sisters to talk to them, but by then Rose had already punched in the code on the panel with gritted teeth and the garage door lifted up.

"We're going to see Athena back at the castle" she explained, her mouth contorted in a grimace, and Yakko wondered how they would even be able to face the woman and act like nothing was wrong. Clearly they all had very bad impressions of her "We've been gone for so long that she 'wants to see us' or something equally as staged. It's kind of a thing we do every now and then, and we've been putting it off."

Marilyn huffed, and StarDust shook her head at her obvious dislike for their mother "Keep the grimace to a minimum, Mary. Athena will be suspicious."

"Yeah, I know" she sighed, but walked over to the lifted garage door without further protest. StarDust followed her.

When Yakko was about to ask what they were supposed to do while the girls were gone, Rose kept her distaste away from her face for long enough to tell them "Go make yourselves useful and buy some groceries. Also, don't bother hurrying up" she let out a long breath, exhausted "I have a feeling this is going to take a while."

The siblings only nodded, and Dot started walking to the kitchen immediately, declaring that she would write the shopping list because Wakko and Yakko always seemed to forget something or another. Wakko just shrugged and went to follow her, saying he'd get the bags to grab what they needed, all as the Milers went out the door.

Just when Yakko was about to go to the kitchen as well though, he heard Rose's voice from the tunnel "Don't forget you still have to do fifty squats when I get back, Yakko!"

The door closed and Yakko groaned, his joints protesting at the thought of more exercise, but instead of complaining any more than he already had, he just walked to the kitchen to help his siblings.

In a few minutes they were ready to begin their little shopping trip. Crossing the field to get to Artemis' market was a torture they were getting used to, and they only complained maybe one or two times each before they reached it.

There were more people at the market than Yakko expected, but it wasn't a large crowd either. There were more warners buying food produce than the last few times he'd been there, taking out their tiny purses out of their bags and letting a few shiny gold coins fall onto the stands. He couldn't help but think of the time he'd seen Rose let a small brown sack plop down onto a homeless warner's hands, and wondered if some of the coins had been given to them by the Milers during one of their usual escapades without the siblings.

Still, he couldn't just stand still and stare, so the three of them walked over to the stands that had the food they wanted, making sure they didn't miss anything on the list that they might need. Yakko had added a few more items to the list Dot had written, mainly because he wanted to try new dishes with different kinds of spices and ingredients they'd never bought before. Luckily, Rose had already told Yakko that if he wanted to buy things that weren't explicitly necessary for survival, that that was fine, just as long as he bought from the lower classes. Wouldn't make much sense to help the rich, unless they had something they absolutely needed that they couldn't get anywhere else.

When they'd bought everything that was necessary (i.e. bread, cheese, potatoes), they set off on a search for the less commonly used food Yakko wanted to experiment with. At this point, Yakko was almost expecting the calm instead of the danger; everything had been going so smoothly that he wasn't worried that something would happen randomly anymore. He felt like he could keep his feeling of anxiety for when they would have to do missions, where he should expect the unexpected.

Actually... everything was going  _too_  smoothly.

Their first mission would be in less than a month, and yet they were all perfectly calm, including the voice. He had been pretty accepting when it came to Yakko spending time with Rose lately, even when it wasn't explicitly necessary, like training was. He appeared reluctant, but didn't tell him not to again. Yakko wondered if their little chat had made the voice decide to stop babying him and if that was the conclusion the voice had come to when he'd said he "shouldn't be berating him for trying to make friends".

Either way, Yakko was glad that he didn't have to fight with the voice over this anymore. But, like he'd said, everything was a bit too good at the moment. It made him feel like... like something bad was coming.

Wow, what a pessimist, right? So what if he had a bad feeling in his gut, telling him that this was just the calm before the storm? He should enjoy the good things while he could, and this was exactly what he was thinking of as he and his siblings walked a ways away from the most crowded part of the market to the least habited. It was a bit darker than the rest of the market, since there were taller, conjoined houses stuck together that made it harder for the sun to peek through, but Yakko didn't mind. He was calm.

Too calm.

Wakko and Dot eagerly searched for the "secret ingredients" Yakko would put in his experimental meals, and the oldest simply listed off the things they needed aloud to the two and cheerily explained when his siblings didn't know what certain things looked like.

That was when he saw something.

A figure quick as lightning passed by them in the shadows, but when Yakko went to look with wide eyes, there was no one there. He slowly lowered his gaze back to Wakko and Dot, walking closer to them just in case the figure was a thief or something that wanted to steal their coins.

To his immense relief, nobody came out of the shadows with a gun demanding that they give them their money, and when his siblings had collected and paid for everything Yakko needed, he was perfectly calm again as he told them they would start walking back to the base. They quietly slipped through the people at the market, but just as they were reaching the end of it, the voice spoke.

\-- ... Someone's following us. --

Yakko almost stopped in his tracks - he'd  _known_  the figure was set on them, he'd known it! - but instead he decided it was smarter to guide his siblings through some crowded alleys, trying to lose their invisible tracker.

When the voice didn't say anything else, seemingly calm again, Yakko decided it was time to keep going, and they got to the vast field, preparing their legs and feet for the long walk ahead.

They got back to base with tired legs from walking and tired arms from holding all the bags with food. Yakko easily punched in the code Rose had taught them to get in, and in a moment, he and his siblings were getting inside the tunnel. He didn't think to look back just in case the person that had been following them had gotten back on their trail. He just wanted to get in as quickly as possible.

He waited for the tell-tale sound of the mechanism of the mountain closing the opening behind them, and though he did hear it, almost immediately he heard a noise that made him turn around. Just like the first time however, there was nothing there, and this time the siblings were also surrounded by darkness.

\-- I don't like this. --

\- I don't like it either. -

His heart started picking up speed as he led his siblings, who... looked oddly as tense as he was, past the tunnel and through the garage door after he'd punched in the code. When they entered the base, he definitely heard a sound behind them before the garage door closed.

The voice gasped.

\-- Look out! --

He barely had a few seconds to react before a fist was flying to his face, but Yakko had reflexes, and he caught the hand in his, effectively stopping the attack.

They hadn't even flicked the light switch on and he was already in a fist fight. What a day.

He heard his siblings gasp as the figure he'd seen in the market earlier tried to punch him with their other hand, managing to use the time Yakko took to dodge it to deliver a swift punch to his chin with the hand they'd gotten out of his grasp. Luckily he didn't bite his tongue off, but it still hurt like hell.

He tried to think of the best way to incapacitate his opponent, who was hiding their face with the hood of the cape they were wearing, without hurting them, but then he realized- he wasn't fighting Rose. This was a real fight, a fight with a stranger. Rose wouldn't ever really hurt him, even if he messed up. This person would. He had to fight, not to better his skills, but to  _live_.

This seemingly made some sort of survival instinct inside him kick in, because the next thing he knew, he was moving to kick the person's leg, just as he'd done with Rose, but when his opponent's first instinct was to jump to avoid him, Yakko didn't hold back on the punch he delivered to their gut.

He wasn't fighting Rose. He could hurt this person without feeling remorse.

His opponent coughed, winded by the punch to their stomach, grabbed at it and groaned, but when Yakko lifted his leg up to deliver a kick straight to the person's chest, just as Rose had taught him, his opponent pounced on him.

They snarled something at him Yakko couldn't understand as they fell onto the floor, Yakko's back hitting the hard unforgiving tiles.

\-- Are you okay? Do you need help? I'll kick their ass if you want me to. --

The voice sounded frantic, but his tone was almost a growl, as if saying that, if asked, he'd kill his attacker. But Yakko didn't have time to answer the voice, because the person on top of him, who was doing nothing more than pinning Yakko's wrists to the floor and hissing at him, finally said something he could understand.

"Where are they? What did you do with them?" the person snarled, clutching at Yakko's wrists tighter, making him hiss at the pain of their nails sinking into his flesh.

"What are you talking about?" though Yakko tried to free himself, even kick his legs to push the person off him, the stranger merely sat firmly on his legs, causing his circulation to cut off there. He wanted to ask his siblings for help, but at the same time he didn't want to alert the stranger of their existence and chance them trying to hurt them.

"Who the  _hell_  do you think I'm talking about?" the person hissed back at him "Marilyn, Rose, StarDust;  _where are they_?"

_Oh_ , so that's what this was about.

Now he was a bit less scared, especially since he chanced a glance at his siblings and saw that each had a frying pan in their hands and were slowly advancing toward the stranger, preparing to hit them with it and knock them out as soon as they were close enough. The stranger didn't seem to notice because they were too frazzled.

So, Yakko responded naturally and without any fright "They went to see Athena."

" _Bullshit_ , why would they want to go see Athena?"

"Uh, because she called for them?"

"And why would she do that?"

Yakko rolled his eyes "It's some sort of regular visit? I've no clue, I don't know Athena personally."

The person's hands tightened even more around his wrists " _Sure_  you don't, because you're not a spy or anything" they were saying this sarcastically. Where had they gotten that idea?

He was starting to get worried, because this person seemed to think everything that spewed out of his mouth was a lie, and he didn't know how to convince them. Who were they anyway? In this darkness and with the hood over their head, Yakko couldn't see their face.

However, at that moment, Yakko heard a noise- a very familiar noise that told him he was safe.

He heard the sound of the garage door opening, and a second later someone flicked on the light switch.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Thank the Heavens that Marilyn exists, though she looked very bewildered at seeing Wakko and Dot holding frying pans a few millimeters away from a hooded person that was pinning Yakko to the floor. Rose and StarDust trailed in behind her, sporting equally incredulous looks, though StarDust looked less shocked and more like she was about to tell someone off. Probably him about the dangers of not paying attention to people who can potentially follow you home.

Also thank the Heavens for the fact that, at seeing the three Milers, the person jumped off him at the speed of sound.

"There you are" their voice sounded fond, and now that Yakko wasn't worried that the stranger would take out a knife and slit his throat, he could tell their voice was a little deep. The way they extended their arms as if preparing for a hug was strange, but even more so was the spark of recognition in Marilyn's eyes.

"... No fucking way..." she whispered as she approached the figure, and though StarDust muttered a 'language' under her breath, she didn't stop her advance.

When Marilyn reached the stranger, she slowly, as if expecting to find the secret of life, slid the hood off the person's head. She gasped at what she saw and her hands flew to her mouth, though all Yakko could see from his angle was a head of black short hair.

"You... How the hell are you alive?" Rose approached the person as well after a moment, her mouth suddenly becoming an incredulous smile. She looked tempted to hug them.

The stranger laughed lightly "I have my methods."

"Clearly" with a small smile, StarDust approached as well, so that the three sisters were in front of the person.

Obviously, they knew each other, but Yakko didn't have the chance to ask to be introduced to the person who'd attempted to bash his face in, because Marilyn, with hands still to her mouth, made a tiny high-pitched sound, like one would make when they see a puppy doing a cute trick.

"... Ellie... Ellie!" she squeaked for a moment and then hugged the previously hooded figure tightly, and Yakko noticed there were tears at the corners of her eyes "You're alive! You're okay! I was so worried!"

'Ellie' sighed softly and wrapped their arms around her as well, patting her head softly "It's okay Mary. I'm okay. Sorry I didn't even send a letter."

"It's fine" Marilyn sniffed, burying her face further in Ellie's shoulder. Yakko felt like there was something going on there but it was none of his business, so he didn't comment "I'm just happy you're okay..."

"Um, I'm sorry" Dot interrupted all of a sudden, making the three sisters, but not Ellie, look toward her. Her expression was annoyed "But why is it that whenever someone new meets with us they try to murder Yakko?"

Yakko felt like this was a very good question and wanted a damned answer.

Rose snorted, Marilyn just buried her face in Ellie's shoulder again, and StarDust shook her head "He's just that annoying. Who  _wouldn't_  want to murder him?"

"Shut up" Yakko pouted, but then addressed the matter at hand "Who are they anyway?"

"Ah yes, you deserve a proper introduction" StarDust said, and when Ellie groaned and asked if they had to, she lightly hit their head and forcefully turned Ellie around.

The three Warners almost jumped out of their skin.

This was... This was impossible. There had to be a mistake.

Had someone suddenly put a mirror in front of him?

"... Holy..." Wakko, in a daze, looked back and forth between Yakko and this Ellie person, his brow slightly furrowed "I'm seeing double. Dot, did you hit my head with the frying pan?"

Dot only shook her head slowly, in a daze just like her brother "No... I'm seeing double too."

Yakko could only stare dumbly.

This person... looked almost like a carbon copy of him. They had a fringe that obscured a bit of their forehead, their eyes a little smaller and not leaning downwards like Yakko's were, but other than that, they were almost identical. Their build was also a lot rougher, all sharp lines and wide shoulders while Yakko was more curvy and soft.

Somehow this didn't shock Ellie at all, because their brow only furrowed in distaste.

"... I'd been hoping you'd look less like me from this close up" Ellie took a step back as if grossed out.

Yakko just shrugged numbly "Sorry for crushing your dreams, I guess."

The three sisters, Marilyn included because she'd let go of Ellie sometime during their exchange with StarDust, looked back and forth between them, eyes wide, as if just  _now_  realizing they might as well be clones.

"Uh..." Rose blinked repeatedly, and then pinched herself once to check if this was real. When it was confirmed this was, indeed, happening, she shook her head in disbelief "This is weird but... Um, these are Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner. They're our pupils."

And when she introduced the stranger, Yakko thought he would faint from the way his head was spinning.

"Yakko, Wakko, Dot. This is Elias Warner, the prince of WarnerStock."

What the actual hell was going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be gentle with me, I made many mistakes when I started planning this story and when I actually figured out what should be a thing and what shouldn't be there were too many aspects of the story that I could no longer change without making a total mess of things. So... You're gonna get a few cliches, but at least I make them obvious.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings at the end notes.

Yakko didn't know what to think of the fact that the famous prince Elias, who would inherit WarnerStock, looked almost exactly like him. He could only hope that the voice had  _some_  clue as to what was going on, since he knew of his past better than he himself did. If Elias looked so similar to him, it had to mean something, right?

\- You... Do you know this person? -

\-- I... I don't... ? --

The voice sounded just as dumbfounded as he was, and Yakko was sure that he was trying his hardest to recall who Elias was, if they'd met him before. But to no avail clearly, because the voice only sighed.

\- Nothing? -

\-- Nothing. I'm just as lost as you are. --

Speaking of the prince, he had briefly stopped staring at Yakko like he'd just seen a particularly gross insect to direct his gaze to his siblings. He looked like he was thinking hard about something, but the two younger kids only sent him frowns.

"Wakko and Dot, huh..." he muttered, his eyebrows pulling into a light frown.

"Yes, those are our names" Dot's eyes narrowed, as if challenging Elias to say something against them "What of it?"

There was silence. Tense silence, silence that was so dense you could have cut it with a knife.

"... Star, where did they come from?" Elias suddenly turned to look at the oldest, who was staring at him with eyes that said she understood what he was getting at, but was kindly advising him to shut the hell up.

Yakko didn't like this in the slightest. Not Elias' sudden interest in his brother and sister nor the way the three blondes suddenly looked very sad.

"So they aren't with you..." Rose muttered under her breath.

"We found them in the Forbidden Forest" StarDust answered calmly, and Elias took in a sudden sharp breath, as if he'd been able to get air after being robbed of it "They've been with us for about three months now."

"In the forest...? Then they could be..." the prince took another glimpse of his siblings, and by this point Wakko and Dot had lost their threatening expressions and were instead staring at Elias with confused and wary eyes "How old are you?"

Still not understanding anything, Wakko turned questioning eyes to Dot, and when she just shrugged, he answered "I'm eleven and Dot's ten. But why's that-"

"Ellie... I know what you're thinking" Marilyn sent the boy a sad frown, and put a hand on his shoulder. She looked understanding "If when the revolution happened they didn't leave with you... I'm pretty sure that-"

"No, Mary, this can't be a coincidence."

Elias shook his head desperately, like he was fighting to sweep away a nightmare from his mind "The same names, same ages, same hair and eye color? How  _could_  this be a coincidence?"

Okay, he decidedly did  _not_  like wherever the prince's thought process was going.

Yakko took a step forward, shielding his siblings from the prince's gaze, his eyebrows contorted in a challenging frown. He and Elias had a staring contest, and Yakko tightened his hands into fists.

Nobody messed with his family.  _Nobody_.

"Careful Ellie, Yakko looks about ready to bite your head off" Rose sent the prince a small smile, though there was no amusement in it at all "I would stay away from those two if I were you. He's awfully protective of them."

Elias froze.

Yakko  _knew_  that was a message to Elias, that under the "joke" Rose was saying "They're with him. Stop deluding yourself." When he was reanimated though, instead of taking Rose's advice, Elias turned cold eyes toward him.

"Him... Yes,  _he's_  what I can't understand."

Fighting the urge to punch the guy in the face, Yakko took a deep breath to calm himself down "Excuse me? I have no idea what you're insinuating, but if you're about to incriminate me of something-"

"I know you're Athena's pawn" Elias hissed, and he took a few more steps forward until they could have easily bumped heads. It wasn't the time to notice that the prince was slightly taller than him and a little intimidating, but he noticed anyway "You have to be. I don't know how she got such a good copy of me, but if you think you can impersonate me and have Athena pull the strings with you on the throne-"

"What the  _hell_  are you talking about?" his expression was one of bewilderment, completely unable to wrap his head around what the prince was saying "I didn't even know we looked alike until a minute ago!"

"And now you come out of nowhere with them in tow? I knew Athena started the revolution, but I didn't think she had such a contingency plan" Elias continued on as if he hadn't spoken at all, snarling at him "Where have you bastards been keeping them, huh?!"

Now Yakko was getting very angry and confused, and he expressed this by clenching his teeth and raising his fists slightly, showing he was ready to fight if need be. Even as Elias loomed over him and leaned forward enough that Yakko had to lean back a little, he stubbornly remained in place "I. Don't. Get. What you're saying. If you have business with my siblings-"

" _Your_  siblings?" Elias gave a sarcastic laugh and dared to finally knock their foreheads together in a show of aggression. Yakko jumped at the contact "You mean  _my_  brother and sister you've somehow found and probably kidnapped."

He actually did a double take.

" _What_?"

What was funny was that Wakko and Dot had the same reaction at the exact same time.

"God damn it-" Rose facepalmed. Thankfully it seemed she thought this was as unbelievable as the three Warners found it "Elias, Athena had nothing to do with Yakko being here and I  _highly doubt_  Yakko's the type to kidnap people. Even if he was, which he's  _not_ , you haven't seen him interact with them. They're all really united and protective of each other. "

Yakko didn't even have the time to feel touched by how strongly Rose was defending him and his relationship with his siblings, because Dot immediately joined the attack.

"We don't even know who you are" she growled at the prince, making him flinch in surprise "You can't just accuse Yakko and say whatever you want, especially without any evidence."

"But- I- Uh-" it was funny to see Elias stammering and trying to find an argument against a ten-year-old who was a lot smarter than he was "You were very little when we were separated, so it's understandable that you don't remember me- But you  _are_  them! You- You have to be! I've been searching for you two for so long... It... I can't be mistaken..."

And... for a moment, Yakko actually felt bad.

The prince suddenly sounded so heart-broken, like the thought that he hadn't found them  _again_  was destroying him from the inside. And if he put himself in his place, Yakko understood the deep sadness he must have been feeling. If Wakko and Dot suddenly disappeared from his side and he couldn't find them anywhere for a long time, thinking the worst but still holding onto a thin ray of hope that they were somehow alive and well, he would feel horrible too.

Unlike his suddenly sympathetic self though, Wakko snorted without a shred of amusement "And we were "separated" when?"

Elias sighed, as if fighting a losing battle.

"... Seven years ago."

The three siblings froze again.

Suddenly Yakko didn't feel so sympathetic anymore.

The fighting continued in front of him, the three sisters joining in on the debate of whether Elias was jumping the shark or not, but he couldn't hear any of it. He felt suddenly detached from reality, like he was floating in a deep black space with nothing in it.

His heart was sinking, everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

... Seven years ago.

\-- Shit- --

He didn't even remember anything from seven years ago.

\-- Y- It's okay. Don't let that guy's words get to you. --

It was possible that Elias was telling the truth.

\-- He's- He's lying. --

How  _had_  he met his siblings?

\-- Everything's fine. --

Neither of them remembered.

\-- Yakko... --

He didn't either.

\-- Listen to me. --

It had never seemed very important. But now it was and... Now that he thought about it, he... did remember something...

\--  _Yakko_. --

His head started feeling light, but instead of stopping, he prodded harder at his memory, trying to find an image, a sound, anything that could tell him that Elias was just confused and that everything was alright.

\-- It's okay.  _You don't need to remember, he's lying_. --

A forest.

He gasped, holding his head. Suddenly the image in front of him wasn't moving slow like molasses, he could hear what was going on.

"We don't remember anything about WarnerStock- This is the first time we've been here!"

"Yakko's taken care of us ever since we can remember! Of course he's our brother!"

"But you were four and three years old when we were separated! You wouldn't really remember anyway!"

"Then where's your proof!?"

"Elias, I think you're being too hasty."

"Um, Ellie, I think you should talk to your dad first? Surely he'd know his own children..."

"Besides, you don't know Yakko, right? He has to have come from  _somewhere_."

It was noisy, tiring. He was so tired.

So,  _so_  tired.

"We got separated when the castle was burning, mom was supposed to get them outside, to the forest-"

The forest. It wasn't just any forest, it was the Forbidden Forest. Burning buildings.

Blood. Running. Children crying and screaming.

_Escape- They had to escape_.

His head  _felt like it was splitting in half_.

\--  _Yakko_! --

Rose seemed to notice finally, stopping her yelling for a moment to turn to look at him. Her expression instantly turned into one of concern, rushing over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and examining his expression.

"Woah, Yakko? What's wrong?" she was talking to him softly, but all he could do was hiss and hold his head harder. Maybe the pressure would stop it from cracking into two.

"Forest... The forest..." he mumbled, letting out a small pained sound when it started hurting worse. He wondered if Rose could even hear him over all the yelling "We were... running, in the forest... "

\--  _Listen to me_! --

"Running? You were running from someone?" Rose sounded completely confused, trying to understand what he was talking about "From who? What happened?"

"T-They were big, they had... guns- We... We were... so small-" the pain was so great he was forced to kneel on the floor, hissing, and Rose looked a bit scared now.

\--  _You're hurting yourself!_  --

"Guns? Who had guns? C-Come on, stay with me" frightened, she kneeled by him and started shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to react. By this point, the others had noticed and had walked over to where they were, all except for Elias, who looked curiously and distrustfully from a distance.

It hurt, it hurt so much, but amongst the sudden influx of memories he could remember Wakko and Dot, and he could remember the forest. Wakko and Dot were small, and looked... lost. Sad. Little toddler Wakko was holding a crying baby Dot by the hand. He remembered thinking that the bigger figure laying on the ground near them, unmoving, had probably meant to take them somewhere safe before their wounds had gotten too grave. There'd been blood everywhere, the grass completely coated.

It  _hurt_.

\--  _Yakko! **Stop it** **!**_  --

He was lost, terrified,  _mourning_ , and didn't know where the hell he was going. But he saw the tiny kids in front of him, clearly in need of assistance, and his bleeding heart told him that wherever he was going to go, he had to take them with him. He couldn't leave them behind, not when  _they_ were still out there. It was too dangerous.

So he... held out a hand. An invitation.

_It burned_.

**\-- _Don't do this!_ \--**

_"... I guess we're all lost. Do you want to be lost together?"_

And after a single moment of hesitation, looking him up and down as if judging his very soul and finding that he liked it, little Wakko smiled... and took his hand.

_"Okay."_

"What's wrong with him?" Marilyn sounded just as concerned, and Wakko and Dot had fallen to the floor at either side of him, each holding one of the hands he had on his head. They looked scared.

"His headaches have never been this bad" Dot hissed out quickly, her eyes moving all over him desperately "What could he have been trying to remember so badly?"

Wakko let out a shaky sigh, but was clearly trying to keep calm as he held his brother through it "Trying to find proof that Elias is wrong, probably."

**\-- _Listen to me. You are okay. Nothing is wrong. You are safe._  --**

"Nightmares and headaches?" StarDust paid close attention to him, suddenly in medical mode and making mental notes "Does he get these often?"

"Nightmares, yes" Dot rubbed his back, cooing soothing words to him that sounded shaky to her own ears "Headaches, no. He must have been trying to remember something really hard."

Yes. Yes, that was exactly what he was trying to do. If he stopped... the headache would stop too, right?

\--  _Yes_. It will go away if you stop. --

\- Stop... -

"So this is what happens when he tries to fight against his amnesia?" why did StarDust sound like his psychiatrist?

Then a voice none of them were expecting spoke up.

"Amnesia?"

Elias suddenly chimed in from his spot a few feet away, frowning like he'd been told new information that changed everything "What do you mean by amnesia?"

"Answering your questions isn't really our top priority right now, Elias" Rose turned to glare at him, and the prince looked surprised at her sudden hostility "If you haven't noticed, he's hurting."

\-- ... It's okay. You don't need to be scared... I'm here. I'll always be here. --

The voice's tone turned from panicked and forceful to sad, gentle and reassuring. It felt like a warm embrace, like a summer day. Yakko could barely let out a hiss of air and respond, confusing images still swirling in his head.

\- ... Yeah... Okay... -

\-- Just breathe. Stop thinking. It won't go completely... But you'll feel better. --

\- ... Really? -

\-- Really. I promise. --

The headache slowly subsided as he kept his mind in a blank, taking deep breaths and letting them go.

It was almost gone, a barely annoying buzz in his head, running in his mind along with the memories he'd just recovered. It felt... weird.

\-- There you go. Better? --

\- ... Yeah. Thank you... -

\-- ... I just want you to be okay, Yakko. There's no need to thank me. --

He let a small smile grace his face, tuning back into reality.

Marilyn, who seemed in better terms with Elias, answered his earlier question, clearly giving as much information as possible so that his doubt in Yakko would abate some "He fell and hit his head hard enough that he doesn't remember anything from before he was nine."

Elias kept quiet for a bit, his gaze on what was happening in front of him but his mind clearly somewhere else.

Then, he asked one more question "And how old is he?"

"Sixteen?" Marilyn looked at him oddly, like she didn't understand the point of that question.

"... Huh" the prince looked confused and thoughtful then, turning his frowning face to the side "Looked younger. He's got quite the baby face."

"... Screw you" feeling a little better, Yakko looked up to glare at Elias, who only shook his head and started walking to the group circled around Yakko.

When he was right in front of the still kneeling boy, the three sisters looked up at him with a question in their eyes, but Elias merely crouched and searched for Yakko's. Wakko and Dot glared at him with everything they had.

Elias, trying to ignore this, looked up. He and Yakko locked gazes, and suddenly, some of the coldness in the prince's gaze left.

"... You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" he asked in a hushed voice, like he was worried that if he spoke louder, it would hurt Yakko's head further.

He was surprised at Elias' consideration, and even more shocked when, the moment he lightly nodded, the prince sighed and reached up a hand to flick his forehead, making him scrunch up his nose. Why was he suddenly... awkwardly playful? Was that the right word for it? It was weird.

But there was an air of familiarity around him, and Yakko was absolutely convinced he, somehow, knew the prince. Could they  _all_  be related, somehow? It would make sense, but if that was the case, then  _how_?

"You look like a kid who's about to start crying" Elias huffed out as an explanation for his actions, standing up again "Can't really be angry at you, not when you don't look like you did anything wrong... I think you might just a victim of circumstances."

"I'm not a kid" he complained, rubbing exaggeratedly at his forehead like Elias' flick had actually hurt him and trying to ignore the victim comment "How old are  _you_  anyway?"

"Sixteen."

"Then you can't call me a kid."

"You look like a kid, so you're a kid."

Yakko was about to retort again, but Rose interrupted him.

"You've got his same baby-face, Elias dear" she smirked at him "It's like insulting yourself."

The prince sent her a glare, but didn't comment, only huffed something under his breath and walked off, signaling for Marilyn and StarDust to follow him. They shrugged and complied, turning once to look back at Yakko and Rose.

There must have been some sort of mental message they all sent each other, because Wakko and Dot just gave Yakko a swift, but strong hug and ran over to join the rest, leaving Yakko and Rose alone.

"He's always so stiff and boring, I much prefer being able to joke around with you" Rose sighed next to him, holding a hand for him to take, so she could help him stand up. Then, she side-eyed him "You feel better, right?"

Oh. Everyone had left them alone to give him some space so Rose could comfort him... Why had they all decided on Rose though?

"Yeah" Yakko wondered if her words were Rose's way of trying to cheer him up. It... kind of worked.

Just a tiny bit though.

"But... He might be right, you know."

The flashback he'd had hadn't given him too much to go off of, but he knew that that'd been his first meeting with his siblings, based on his thoughts. Did... Did that mean Elias was technically right? Had he accidentally kidnapped them because he'd thought they'd had no place to go?

Did that mean Elias would take his siblings away? Make them part of his own family?

Would he never see them again?

He unconsciously ignored Rose's offered hand, making himself smaller on the floor. He didn't want that. They were his... family. Technically? Perhaps not by blood.

... He didn't know anymore. It hurt to think about.

"About what? Wakko and Dot being his brother and sister?" when he nodded, depressed, Rose patted him gently on his back "Don't be too worried. You three grew up together, right? You love them and they love you and everything's sunshine and rainbows" as a second thought, she lightly punched his arm, giving him a reassuring smile "Blood related or not, you're a family, and he can't take that away from you. They wouldn't let him, either."

That made him look up at her "Who? Wakko and Dot?"

Rose groaned like he was stupid "Obviously. I don't know what you're so worried about; they  _adore_  you, Yakko. They're your little brother and sister, and you're their big brother. Speaking as a younger sister myself, I know I wouldn't let anyone rip me apart from my family."

He stayed silent for a bit, enough for her eyes to warm up and lightly tap his hand with hers "It's all going to be okay. I know Elias enough to be sure he won't do anything too drastic."

He... did feel a bit better. A bit. Enough for him to take Rose's hand and let her lift him up.

"... Thanks."

"Anytime."

Rose sent him another smile before she took a few steps closer to the rest "Come on, we should join them. Elias  _did_  come for something other than to turn your world upside-down, you know."

Yakko sent her a smile back, truly appreciating her concern and her jokes. His day had gone from okay to awful in just a matter of minutes, but... she could still lift his spirits a little.

And besides, this didn't mean the world was ending- it just meant that he might be an "added" part of the family, which was weird now that he thought about it. The prince knew Wakko and Dot, said they were his brother and sister... but didn't know who Yakko was, and his siblings hadn't known him either, judging from his memory. That was all fine and dandy if that meant that he and his siblings weren't related by blood, really, Rose was right about that but...

Like Elias had said, where had  _he_  come from? He'd thought he and his siblings were in this together, that none of them had any idea of who their parents were. He was glad that they had found their roots, if they really had, but what about himself? Aside from the thought that Wakko and Dot might not  _really_  be his blood-relatives, that was what had him sad and depressed.

He still didn't know who his parents were, where he'd come from. He still didn't know what the voice was, or his name, and he was still missing a huge chunk of his memory.

\- Are all my memories as bleak as that one? -

\-- ... Not all of them. --

\- That's... really not very reassuring. -

\-- Sorry. Just don't wanna lie to you if I don't have to. --

Shaking his head, he walked alongside Rose to where the rest of the group was, all of them having moved over to the living room table. When they got closer, StarDust was shaking her head like something impossible had been said.

"We were told he was dead and nobody has heard anything about him in the last seven years. It's impossible" she said, sending Elias an exasperated look, as if saying "I am getting extremely tired of your shit today."

"Yeah, well, I hadn't heard anything about  _them_  for seven years either, yet here they are" the prince vaguely gestured to where Wakko and Dot were sitting, who merely sent him unamused looks.

"We still don't think we are who you think we are, but, okay" Wakko shrugged, and Dot crossed her arms, still glaring.

"Anyway," Elias decided to ignore that "What I'm saying is that I've been hiding  _with him_  for all these years. I know, for absolute certain, that he's alive. And he told me to come find you."

"Are you still on that?" Rose asked, a frown on her face, as she sat down in an empty chair "I thought we'd already established that that's ridiculous."

"Have you even been listening to me?" the prince lifted his hands up in exasperation "I was  _with him_ -"

"I know what you  _said_ , I'm just saying I highly doubt it and that you're likely hallucinating" she crossed her arms and scoffed, apparently angry with him for having sent Yakko into a bit of an episode "Just based on today I'm more likely to say you've gone insane from the isolation."

"Who are we talking about?" Yakko felt out of the loop, and he silently sat down in the last chair available, conveniently in the middle of Wakko and Dot "I'm kind of late to the party."

"The king," Marilyn answered, sending him a look, as if daring him to question Elias' sanity too "Ellie says that he sent him to meet us."

"Yes, as I was saying" Elias scoffed and rolled his eyes, seeming legitimately angry at the implication that he'd been seeing things "He told me to come see you, because he wants to meet up with you."

That sure shut the whole table up.

"... Meet us? Where?"

"Back at the ruins of the old castle, where we've been hiding for the past seven years. Of course you all think father's dead- That's what we made everyone believe. To protect my father we had to keep his existence, as well as mine, a secret. We have been hiding under the ruins for years, and we sent soldiers in disguise to learn about what was happening outside. A while ago we heard about the Freedom Squad that wanted to dethrone Athena and that you were doing a good job-"

"Oh my God" Yakko snorted, hiding his smile behind his hands "You guys're called the  _Freedom Squad_? That's adorable."

"I think I preferred you were you were on the brink of consciousness" Rose sneered at him in jest, and then turned to Elias "Continue, please."

"Thank you" the prince sent Yakko a glare, who pretended not to see it, and carried on "So we sent guards to look for you, but nobody could find your hiding place without being obvious about following you. Which made father decide to send me instead. I wanted to follow you before, but something always came up or I couldn't find you, so it took me a while."

"It just so happens that I saw these three with you a few times" he gestured to the three Warner siblings "and since I saw them alone today I figured it'd be easier to follow them. I thought uh, he was a spy at the time so I... got a bit carried away when I didn't see you here. Thought he'd hurt you or something" he coughed once, glancing at Yakko from the corner of his eye and avoiding calling him by name as if his mere existence made him uncomfortable. Yakko hoped he felt guilty.

"But I get that he's not a threat now, so, uh, everything's cool! But yeah, father still wants to meet with you to... talk things over. He wants to get Athena off the throne too, obviously."

The three sisters looked at each other, as if asking "Should we believe this?", but they eventually shrugged and decided that they had more to lose by dismissing him than not.

"Sounds fantastic, when is this meeting going to happen?" Rose looked successfully cheered up, deciding to accept the fact that the man whom they'd thought was dead for years was suddenly alive. Well, if Elias was okay, then there  _was_  a good chance that the king was alive too.

"Tomorrow, if you could" Elias also looked much more cheerful, and Yakko saw a small smile on his face "That aside... I'm glad to be able to talk with you guys again. It was... kind of lonely, all those years by myself, with just my father and some servants. It's not like I could go out often."

"But... You can visit now, right?" Marilyn sent him a hopeful look.

"I'm sure I'll manage" his smile was brighter when it was directed to Marilyn. Yup, something was definitely going on there.

"Anyway, I'll see you at three pm at most. I trust you know where the ruins are" Elias easily stood up from his seat, taking a step toward the garage door "I'd love to stay longer, but father is waiting for me and I have to tell him about the... new developments" he side-eyed Wakko and Dot. They only narrowed their own eyes in response.

Yakko wondered how this guy could just come out of nowhere, tell him everything he knew was wrong, and then just head out again without even apologizing. He already heavily disliked the prince.

The sisters, however, merely waved at him in sign of goodbye, except for Marilyn, who stood up to help him pass through the door with the code. He heard the mechanism of the mountain turning for the door to open, and then a yell from Marilyn that sounded suspiciously like "And make sure you visit, jerk-face!" before she walked back to them, a tired expression on her face.

When she sat back down, everyone turned to look at Yakko expectantly.

"... You want dinner, don't you?"

"And you think we're just interested assholes, don't you?" Rose rolled her eyes, and StarDust glared at her for swearing "We wanna know what happened back there."

Oh, yeah. His headache'd been pretty bad.

However, instead of making a big deal out of it, he just shrugged "My head hurts when I'm trying to remember something really badly. That's literally it." They really shouldn't take it as something too important. It wasn't like it was something that he could change.

"That looked pretty intense to me" Marilyn looked at him with concern instead of brushing the subject off "You didn't hurt yourself too bad, did you?"

He was about to answer Marilyn, but instead, he yawned. Trying to force himself to remember always left him with tired limbs and drooping eyelids.

"That was because I was forcing it too much" He shook his head at the second question, rubbing his eyes. The voice had easily taken care of that "And no, I'm fine now. He knew what to do so-"

He closed his mouth shut, suddenly wide awake.

Oh. Shit.

He'd unconsciously mentioned the voice and he hadn't noticed.

"He?" StarDust blinked at him, confused "Who's "he"?"

Wakko and Dot sent him a look he nervously returned. They were probably wondering if he wanted to tell the sisters about the voice, right that moment, but Yakko  _really_  didn't want to talk about it unless it was completely necessary.

He didn't want them to think he was a lunatic. Not when he'd just become more a friend than an acquaintance.

Instead, he laughed lightly, like he hadn't said anything weird at all.

\- Acting skills, please don't fail me now. -

"Oh, nobody, slip of the tongue. Meant to say I, I'm just really tired."

"... Right."

Rose looked at him oddly, but stood up anyway. She clearly suspected something "Now that we've established you're okay, it's time to make dinner. And, well, since you're tired today, I'll help you."

"Thanks" Yakko sent her a grateful smile and they both got into the kitchen, away from the other two sisters' curious gazes.

When they were a bit further away, Rose talked to him in a quiet tone.

"It wasn't a slip of the tongue, was it?"

Yakko froze. He'd known she'd called his bluff, but he hadn't thought that she would confront him about it so soon.

Rose looked at him, but kept taking out the ingredients they would need for a simple meal "I won't ask but... You'll tell us eventually, won't you?"

He bit his lip, not sure what to tell her. He  _would_  tell them eventually... He just wanted that time to be as far away from now as possible.

"... Yeah, I will. I... I trust you guys but..."

She put up a hand to stop him "I understand. You need time and we're ready to give it."

When she passed by him, a bowl in her hands, she smiled warmly back at him "I'm glad you trust us."

That made him less tense, and he sent her a smile back.

He was glad he could trust them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Narrowly avoiding a panic attack, mentions of blood and death. Nothing too heavy yet.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got our first Rose POV chapter! Yaaaaaay... She's not having a good time.
> 
> Warnings at the end notes.

_"You're talented at lying to yourself, you know that?"_

_He's surrounded by darkness, cold and empty. The presence of the girl is a barely felt phantom; he can pinpoint it coming from somewhere behind him, not too far away. If he walked three steps backward he could probably run right into her._

_The thought sends shivers down his spine._

_"Trying to make a big deal of things with the Voice, and then Wakko and Dot..." she giggles. It echoes in the darkness "You know you don't deserve them, so why fight? The prince will be soooo much better than you at being a big brother, you should just give up. Because you can't protect them. You're **W O R T H L E S S**."_

_"... Am not" he whispers, entirely unconvinced of his own words. He hides his face in his knees, hugs his legs tightly "I'm doing my best, and I've done good so far. I'm a good person. I... I deserve happiness."_

_The girl's previous giggle turns into a full cackle, mocking him._

_" **Happiness?** " he feels a huff of breath on his shoulder and he panics, looking around himself as if he would be able to spot the girl. Still no sign of anything other than darkness "Since when did  **you**  deserve happiness, Yakko? What did you ever really do to deserve it?"_

_There's a weird shifting happening behind him, something ginormous and terrifying trying to get closer, slither around him and get in front of him so he would have to confront it. He knows she's not nearly strong enough to do that, not yet. She can't force him to look at her head on._

_He hates her. He hates her so, **so**  much, he doesn't think anyone can ever stop him from doing so. He wonders why she's still here, a barely seen ghost but still kicking and trying desperately to return afloat so she could ruin his life all over again._

_"... I've helped people."_

_"You've hurt people too."_

_He'd tried to kill her, and only succeeded marginally. He'd only temporarily erased her existence._

_"All those self-assurances, everyone around you telling you that they believe in you, that they care," her smile doesn't slip, instead her voice distorts into a half-demonic hiss " **They're all lying. They feel sorry for you. You're just a burden. After all, how could anyone ever love something like you?** "_

_His face returns to his knees, expression pained and teeth bared in a snarl. His breaths come out in quick gasps, his words a desperate mantra "That's not true. I'm loved. I deserve to be loved. I'm a good person. I deserve happiness."_

_"Liar" a soft whisper in his ear "You should save everyone the trouble of dealing with you."_

_"I-" his voice wobbles and cracks. His lip trembles "I am... loved. I am g-good. I d-deserve ha... happiness."_

_" **Just die already you useless F R E A K.** "_

_Damn it. He holds his hands over his ears, clutching his eyes closed. He's yelling his chant now, even though his voice is just as weak and pathetic as before "I am good! I am loved! I deserve to be happy!"_

_She only cackles over his shouting, the darkness pulsing and slithering around him further. He feels her trying to close in on him, but his screaming is too loud and his conviction isn't so unstable that she can just wrap around him and strangle the life out of him._

_He knows what he has to do to get rid of her, or at least, the only way he **might**  get rid of her._

_Even though it may make her stronger first, the only way to be free of her for good is to let her show herself fully... And then accept her, as much as he wants to hurl from the mere thought. It's the only way to move on. He knows that on a fundamental level._

_If he wants his memories back he'll have to put up with her, and hope that she doesn't destroy him in the interim or at the end of it. Trying to kill her the same way again is out of the question, not only because he doesn't **want**  to, but also because he has far more to lose if he does it now than he had back then._

_The question is though; will his resolve hold when everything is said and done? It echoes in his mind as the yelling and laughing become a maddening cacophony._

* * *

One would have thought that Elias returning to them after being missing for seven years and fighting with Yakko being the first thing he did upon doing so would have surprised Rose. It didn't.

Ever since they had picked up the Warner Siblings back at the forest, she'd felt weird. Odd, like something was out of place and yet like she had somehow gotten something back that she'd been missing for years. She wondered if it really was true that they had never been in WarnerStock to begin with and if that was why they felt so foreign, like they didn't belong, but Rose thought it was something more than that. Something deeper, something that had more to do with their mannerisms and way of treating situations than with where they'd come from. Yakko in particular reacted very strangely to everyday things, and she figured Wakko and Dot had just adopted some mannerisms either from their older brother or from human television.

Everything had been strange since that time, and now Rose was just... expecting strange things to happen. Alexandra calling her to tell her that they had finally managed to find and salvage the diary from the ashy confines of what had once been the Milers' house being the first odd happening, and Elias appearing being the second. These had been the most interesting developments the three sisters had had in years, and that was definitely saying something considering that they were constantly trying to take down the monarchy.

As a whole, Yakko just... eluded her. She had no idea what to make of him.

How could one describe this boy? Well, paranoid was one of the first words she would use to explain whatever he was, as well as strange, though kind, snarky, and almost always smiling even when it was clear he wasn't happy at all. That and anger or annoyance seemed to be the only emotions he would show her. The only time she'd seen him acting somewhat normal had been when she'd first met him, when he'd shown what he'd been thinking. Don't get her wrong, she'd come to care for him, but that didn't change the fact that she thought he needed to calm down or else he'd pop a vein one of these days from all the stress he was under. Elias trying to convince him that Wakko and Dot were his long lost brother and sister wasn't helping matters any.

What had happened a few days before was just one more of the odd occurrences that happened around that guy. She'd been surprised at her own willingness to share the topic of her deceased friend with anyone, much less someone whom she'd only known for about three months, but... Somehow, he just had the air of someone whom you could talk to, who wouldn't judge. She figured that after playing Caretaker for his brother and sister for so long, he'd just learnt how to properly diffuse a situation, how to calm someone down and comfort them. How to listen and understand, or at least try to. She admired that side of him, hoped she could see more of it in the future.

Still, though she'd felt that same air of understanding and compassion from him while telling him about her friend, it was strange how he'd completely spaced out in the middle of the conversation. At first his gaze had stayed the same for a while, only his eyes fixing on a point to the left of her shoulder, but gradually his eyebrows had started furrowing, until he'd merely looked annoyed. She had been wondering if he'd been having a silent war with himself over the "memory topic", but that question had been thrown out the window when his eyes had changed color.

At first, it had shocked her; going from black to red eyes in a millisecond was an impressive, and unnatural, feat, but... Instead of scaring her, she only grew curious. There had been anger in his gaze for a moment, then changing to sadness of some sort, and suddenly turning into panic. She'd wondered then what this change of emotions could mean, what he had been thinking about to warrant such a reaction.

Then his eyes had changed back and it'd been so sudden she'd almost fallen out of her chair. She suspected Wakko and Dot had noticed, that they knew what had been going on, and had merely wanted to distract her by asking her to relay that one move again. It wasn't that hard to figure out really; they never wanted to practice their fighting, so it was incredibly out of character that they wanted her to teach them more.

She hadn't had the guts to call Yakko out on it until later, but she had a strange feeling that his slip up last night had something to do with it. She had no idea what it all meant, but she wasn't going to rush him, and she knew that he would tell them eventually. It didn't feel like anything too worrisome at least, so she'd let it slide.

Apart from that, being around this strange person every single day was bound to have its repercussions, as she would find out the day before.

That day had been overall shitty. It had started shitty because when she'd tried waking Yakko up she'd almost gotten a pretty solid punch in the face, though she was quick to catch his hand. He'd, of course, apologized for having woken up so brusquely, but it wasn't like she could blame him. If he did, indeed, almost have chronic nightmares, there was little he could do to prevent it.

In the end, Yakko had been tired, Rose had been tired, and this unholy combination had resulted in them bickering for almost the whole morning whilst doing the usual routine. Then had come the awful letter Star had oh so calmly presented to her. Of course, it was easy for her because  _she_ wasn't the one who had to listen to Athena rant about how Rose was avoiding her studies and deciding, instead, to follow in her older sister's footsteps into climbing the police force's ladder and getting a higher rank. But she always had to correct herself, because God forbid she say something bad about StarDust, so she stated that she was incredibly proud of the oldest for pursuing what was just.

The nerve of the woman, to talk about justice when she herself was the very illness that plagued their land, the parasite that just took and took and never gave.

Marilyn was also extensively praised for whatever new invention she made that benefited WarnerStock, but Rose? No, Rose never got any praise. She, as the technical youngest, was supposed to stay in school and stay closer to home, to Athena.

Now wasn't that the joke of the century.

She wanted  _nothing_  to do with the woman who had only given birth to her. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides, Athena had always held a grudge against her for  _that_  time, because she was still convinced she'd done it. And Rose could swear on the makeshift grave she'd made for her dear friend in her backyard that didn't (and would never have) a body in it, that she had, actually, not been at fault, and the woman would still blame her.

As if the police hadn't told Athena a million times that Rose couldn't have possibly been the one to kill Robert, not with her weak body or with the alibi she'd presented, the alibi she'd faked and her sisters had backed her up on. Rose had stopped bothering. Even she didn't fully know what had happened, she just knew she hadn't actually been the one to hurt the bastard, even if she had wanted to. Let Athena think what she wanted.

Aside from that, meeting with their "mother" (and she used the term very loosely) had been horribly uneventful, filled with lies of what the three sisters had been doing in their time away from "home" (again, used loosely). The only thing that had been even remotely interesting had been that, at one point, Athena had asked them about a rumor that had been going around about three kids following the sisters lately, but Star had immediately stated that they hadn't met with anyone new and she had dropped it, thankfully. Rose didn't know who had ratted them out, but she wouldn't be surprised if the woman had a few spies that sneaked around the lower-class towns, searching for dirt on anyone they could find.

She hoped the (supposedly alive) king's meeting with them would be much more eventful than that had been, but she was trying not to have high expectations. For all she knew, Elias could have truly been delusional and have imagined the king all along. It wasn't like she'd spent enough time with him in order to make sure he was still sane. What he'd been saying had sounded pretty crazy to her, and he'd been missing, and probably had little contact with anyone, for seven years. If that didn't make anyone go insane, nothing would.

But despite Elias' claims and Yakko's awful headache that had frankly scared the hell out of her, things felt brighter. Like something good was coming. Elias being back was just the beginning, or so said her instinct.

The warm water surrounding her turned cold just as she thought of that, but instead of taking it as a bad omen, she just cursed and turned the shower off, thankful that the soap on her body had long since rinsed off. She'd spent so much time letting her mind wander that she'd probably used up all of WarnerStock's warm water supply.

Oops.

Hoping nobody in the country had to shower after her, Rose slipped out of the shower and toweled herself off, taking extra care when drying her ears because ouch they could really hurt if you accidentally yanked on them. She'd had enough of not-so-accidental ear-yanks from Athena to know that you did  _not_  want to accidentally pull on them. Not a good idea. If you ever see a warner with ear piercings, then take that person's autograph because they're metal as fuck. That shit hurts.

She grabbed her night-clothes from the top of the toilet lid she'd pulled down to safely put her clothes on it and changed. It was 6:30 am, and she was calmly walking back to her bedroom to wake up a certain strange person.

She'd been awake for about ten or so minutes, but she'd not been able to sleep until late that night thinking about the happenings of the day before.

Truthfully, she'd been surprised. She'd known that Yakko looked familiar the first time she'd seen him (way,  _way_  too familiar), but the fact that he looked like Elias had never passed through her mind. She hadn't seen him for seven years after all, and she hadn't exactly thought of how he would look like all grown up. Elias had looked almost like a mirror image of Yakko, but there were still some subtle differences that made the package. Elias' figure was rougher, while Yakko's was softer, thinner, almost lanky. Yakko's eyes were also leaning downwards more than Elias' were, so the prince's eyes looked stronger, and Yakko's looked... kind of sad, now that she thought about it.

They looked eerily similar, and that could not be a coincidence. There was no way. Now, the question was  _why_? Elias didn't know Yakko, so they couldn't be close family, right? Maybe they were really distant family? She was glad Yakko had at least a clue to his past now, but what were they to do from here? Grab the Warner family tree and search for him in there? She didn't think anyone kept those anymore, sadly, but they could search the birth records, right? Hopefully they would find something that could lead him to find out who he was. She was determined to help him with that, if she was allowed to.

Speaking of who he was, right now he was being a lazy bum.

"Yakko, I'm not going to shake you gently again. Either you get up, or I'll throw you off the bed."

"Nooooooooo, five more minutes" he groaned, and slowly, as if asking for her pity, rolled to his other side "... I'm so tired, Rose."

Well that was bad news.

"My threat is still valid."

But she was not a sympathetic kind of girl and she never would be, let alone that particular day.

"... Pwease?"

She almost laughed out loud at the high-pitched, purposefully cute exclaim, but she had to maintain a harsh front as the leader. She would not tolerate laziness.

Crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow, she smiled slyly at him "It didn't work for Dot and it won't work for you."

"Drat" he sighed, and sleepily, the kind of sleepy when you've slept so badly you might as well have pulled an all-nighter, turned back around to face her "You're heartless."

There were deep black half-moons under his eyes that went along with said eye color, and he was slowly trying to blink the sleep away. She almost felt a little bad until she noticed that he had the white shirt she had lent him on backwards.

What a dork.

Rose huffed, trying not to snort at his appearance "I'm not heartless, I'm training you."

"Training can wait, can't it?" he yawned, and his hair was in such a state of bed-headedness that it spiked up near his forehead in a way that reminded her of Elias. Yeah, there was no way that them being so similar was a coincidence.

"If you don't mind getting hurt when someone inevitably attacks you, then yeah, training can wait" shrugging, she walked over to the cupboard to grab a cloak, ignoring Yakko's huff. She particularly liked the stamp at the back of it depicting a chained dove; it showed how their freedom was kept from them by the chains of Athena's rule.

"I defended myself pretty well against The Little Prince, in my opinion" his mouth was down in something between a pout and a scowl.

"Ah yes, you looked majestic while a weakling like Elias pinned you to the floor" with a roll of her eyes, she started walking out of the room, snorting when Yakko immediately got into action and leaped out of the bed to follow her out, only to then wobble dangerously on his feet because of his sleep deprivation.

"You didn't see the whole fight! I was doing great 'till he took me by surprise" he was trying to keep some of his dignity intact, but so far every fight he'd had with anyone had resulted in his loss. She needed to train him more on the offensive if she wanted him to successfully beat someone sometime soon.

Throwing a sarcastic smirk his way, she replied "Sure you were."

Yakko grumbled at that, deciding that Rose was partly right and that he should stop complaining, thankfully. He wasn't usually one of the whiny ones, he followed orders exceptionally well, but sometimes he was too cranky to do whatever she asked for the first time she ordered it. He would sometimes make a comment before actually doing it.

"Anyway" he scratched the back of his neck, trying to find a change of topic when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything else "We're supposed to go see the king today, aren't we?"

Rose hummed in response.

She was contemplating on leading him on a little bit to crush his hopes of seeing someplace new later, but she didn't feel like making him suffer too much that day. The day before hadn't been exactly kind to him.

So, she decided to say it outright "We're going. You're staying."

The second set of footsteps stopped walking suddenly and Rose knew Yakko had stopped in his tracks if for a second.

"... What?"

She contemplated sighing because she knew he was going to be upset about this, but instead, she explained as well as she could "I'm sure you know the dangers of going to the castle ruins to meet up with Elias and the king. It's already plenty dangerous for us three, since we could be charged for treason if we were found out."

She continued walking through the corridor, and Yakko hurried up to walk alongside her, his expression one of annoyance "You three are in an even worse position because you guys are practically new here, and as far as we know there're no real records of you having ever even been in WarnerStock. You could easily be considered spies if anyone catches you, and you guys aren't ready for such a danger. We still need to work on your sneaking, and develop a plan in case you ever get caught."

"But when  _will_ we be ready? We've been in this place for three months without doing anything" Rose could tell Yakko was getting increasingly frustrated and wanted to protest more than he was, but she wasn't going to change her mind.

"Yakko, this is for your own protection-"

"Rose. Being cooped up in here for three months has already driven us half-insane. Are we so under-trained that we can't even go talk to someone with you?"

She tried not to groan. Was he really going to ruin the day? Already? It was still only 6:50. Though, considering the date, her day had already been ruined way before it'd started. It was just Yakko's luck that he had to try and be rebellious when Rose was in the mood to punch someone.

"Look, I know it's annoying, I've been through this too. You don't think we became soldiers in a day, do you?" she tried reasoning with him, and when she turned her head to look at him his annoyance had diminished a bit, but not by much "But we can't-"

""Can't put you on the battlefield without any training" I know, we already talked about this" he groaned as he repeated the words she'd probably told him and his siblings a lot.

"If we've already talked about it, why do you need me to repeat it?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Maybe because something should have changed from the last time you said that to now?" the frown on his face was tired "Shouldn't we be at least a little bit better? It's not like I want to start fighting people, I just want to do  _something_."

Rose understood his point, but he also had to understand hers. She couldn't take them along. It was too risky, and she wasn't about to have them killed for treason just because of a whim.

"You've been getting stronger" she tried keeping her calm, putting the blue cloak over her shoulders, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. She knew the siblings were getting incredibly restless, but she hadn't been able to find a mission for their category as of yet. She needed to find something somewhat easy to start with "But that doesn't mean you're ready."

Suddenly, Yakko was in front of her, his expression serious, and Rose was forced to stop walking so she wouldn't crash into him "But we  _are_  ready. We're ready for the next step."

Oh, really?

With a roll of her eyes, Rose elbowed him and walked past him, hissing out "You'll be ready when  _I_  say you're ready."

"You're just scared that we'll get hurt."

And she stopped in her tracks. Her fists tightened.

That was it. She was done with him thinking that he could do anything if he truly wanted to; that was the kind of mindset that killed people. She had to properly tell him off, or he would keep questioning her.

She was the leader, and he was supposed to  _listen to her_.

Turning around to face a frowning Yakko, Rose growled lowly and walked forward toward him, until they were face to face. His eyes widened slightly at her sudden aggression, but he stood his ground.

He was stubborn. She fucking  _hated_  when they were stubborn.

" _ **You have no right to call me out on that**._  You know who's the one who's most scared around here? It's  _you_. You're the one who thinks that just because you're walking closer to the goal, that things will be over faster, that your family will be out of danger quicker" her words were a snarl, meant to be a punch in the gut for him.

She knew it was a low blow. She had  _meant_  for it to be a low blow.

The words worked their magic, and Yakko walked back a few steps, looking like he was feeling guilty for having said what he had. He was most likely feeling like quite the hypocrite, but Rose wasn't done "You know what the next step is? The battlefield. You could be found out and killed at any moment. Is that what you want? Going out into the wilderness with only a stupid flashlight in your backpack because you were too damn impatient to pack your other tools?"

"No..." he murmured the words as he turned his gaze to the side, looking ashamed, and for a moment she felt like a mother chastising her child. This, however, was a much more serious matter.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming herself down. Though she was annoyed with him, he didn't deserve to be yelled at. She could afford to tone it down a bit.

Rose then turned to look at Yakko with a tired expression "I did say that we've never been caught so far, but we aren't the only ones who have been trying to take down Athena. Other groups have tried before."

When she didn't say anything for a while, Yakko asked in a low, timid voice that she wasn't used to hearing from him "... What... happened to them?"

She gritted her teeth "They were caught. All of them. And you want to know what Athena did to them?"

His expression showed he really didn't, but she didn't give him a choice.

"She hanged them in Artemis' square. Just to make a point" it'd taken her months to get the image out of her head.

She didn't want the siblings to end up like that. She didn't think she would be able to take it. Somehow, in the few months they'd been together... They had become part of the team, and she'd gotten attached.

She... really shouldn't have gotten attached. She'd thought she'd learnt her lesson after her friend, but she clearly hadn't.

Yakko didn't retort and Rose kept going, albeit almost quietly and with an air of sadness "Getting cocky will result in death. Thinking you're ready when you're really not will kill you, so keep that in mind next time you're feeling impatient."

That'd been a bit harsh, but Yakko looked like he wasn't ever going to bring the matter up again and that was what mattered... right? His ears were low, and his eyes were glued to the floor as he wrung his hands, avoiding her gaze.

Oh well. He'd get over it.

With that, she deemed the conversation over and turned back around, walking over to the large door that led to the outside, where her sisters were waiting. Yakko didn't follow, but she hadn't expected him to.

Her last remaining effort into trying to keep this day from being awful ruined, Rose stood in front of her sisters, still distinctly angry. Marilyn and StarDust also had a cloak over their shoulders, the same as hers. They looked annoyed with her, but there was an understanding in their eyes that prevented them from doing anything more than scold her.

"Did you really need to be so harsh with him?" Marilyn sent her a disapproving look as StarDust put in the code to open the metal door. The oldest didn't look too happy with the way she'd treated Yakko either.

"He needed to be put in his place" Rose huffed out, crossing her arms. She truly was doing it for his own benefit, not hers "We can't have him thinking he's hot shit and getting himself shot."

"I agree with Mary. Such a speech was unnecessary" StarDust, yet again, glared at her for the bad word, but shook her head for another reason "There were other ways to discuss the matter."

"Well excuse me for not being a good mother!" Rose threw her hands in the air as the door moved up, her gaze disbelieving. Didn't they understand that such an attitude was dangerous? "I can't deal with overconfident brats."

"You don't need to be a good mother, just a good friend" Marilyn actually, honest to God, sent her The Glare of Death, and Rose could have sent her a shocked look back if she wasn't so busy trying to comprehend what had just been said to her.

"Seriously? You're taking  _his_  side?" she exclaimed, irritated, as they walked through the tunnel. She couldn't be serious. Rose had just done what she'd considered necessary "He needed to come down a peg!"

"Yeah, a peg. You shot him down from a thirty story floor rooftop and he fell face-first onto the asphalt" when she realized what she'd said, she quickly backtracked, looking upset "Um, bad analogy there, but you get my point."

Well... Maybe her twin did have a point.

Marilyn sighed at her obliviousness, walking forward with StarDust and leaving an annoyed Rose to follow them "I get that this is a bad day for you, but you didn't need to take it out on him. You're sending mixed messages, considering what happened yesterday."

Rose could have groaned to the heavens. She  _did_  care about the little dweeb, she didn't want him to be hurt. And that was exactly why she'd done what she did!

"I'm his  _coach_ , I'm supposed to put him down every once in a while, but I'm also his  _friend_  and I'll be there if he needs me" she huffed out the words, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt that suddenly washed over her. Maybe she should have been a little less strict...

"Still. Apologize to him when you get back."

Rose, with a sigh, was actually considering following Marilyn's advice.

Neither of them said anything else, so the three walked through the tunnel until they reached the dead end. Rose punched in the code to open it and her thoughts wandered.

She still felt like she'd done the right thing. Sure, Yakko might be upset for a while, but he'd be fine before they got back from meeting the king and Elias at the ruins. It was better than having him be overconfident and getting himself killed after all.

\- Sometimes, to protect someone important to you, you have to keep them from doing stupid things by yelling at them. Get it through their thick head. -

Keep them from doing stupid things...

Her persisting annoyance slowly dissolved into a deep feeling of melancholy, and she slipped her hand into the pocket of her dress, clutching at the diary there.

If only Rose had taken her away when she'd had the chance... If she had stood her ground, yelled and dragged her along, she might have still been alive, and Rose wouldn't have been left with just a diary to remember her by.

She didn't want to lose anyone else because she wasn't strong enough. If she had to be mean, she would be.

Though... She might apologize when they got back. Just for Yakko to know that she wasn't really angry at him.

With this conclusion, she jumped out onto the grass below, turning to look at StarDust and Marilyn. There were menacing black clouds hanging around the sky. She hoped it wouldn't rain.

"Come on," Rose then motioned for her sisters to follow her outside the mountain "We've got a king to meet. Or the hallucination of one, anyway."

* * *

When they reached the ruins, it started raining.

Her and her big mouth.

The excessive droplets of water and the thunder that was resounding around them contributed greatly to the gloomy appearance of the once magnificent castle. Athena had had it demolished the moment she'd become queen, which was a shame really; it had been such a beautiful image of class and elegance, yet it had held an air of humility, like it had wanted to be closer to the people. Athena had probably considered the sight of the ruined castle empowering, as if it were some kind of twisted symbol of the time in which she had won over William seven years before.

Had she mentioned that her mother was fucked up?

The three sisters calmly walked over a multitude of rocks that had once formed the impenetrable walls of the building, their hoods over their heads not only to hide their faces and thus their identities should someone spot them, but also to shield them from the rain. Rose couldn't help but look around in slight sadness as she observed the destruction that her mother's pride had caused first-hand.

As they walked further into the ruins, where some parts of the walls had survived and still stood tall, they spotted red. A person, covered in a red cloak, was hiding between two of the few stone walls, a makeshift roof made up of a wooden door above them.

"You came after all" the figure spoke, and it only took Rose a moment to listen to their voice over the rain and thunder to know that it was Elias.

"Yeah, we chose to listen to your ramblings for some reason" Rose shrugged at him as she slid the hood off her face, and Elias did the same. Honestly, she was in such a bad mood at the moment that she would take it out on anyone she could.

"... Right. Anyway" Elias sighed at the insult, merely sending Rose an unamused look "The entrance is right over there, come on."

The Milers, though hesitant, followed the prince a few steps forward, where the makeshift cave became darker as they stepped further away from the wasteland outside. Rose was surprised to see that some of the golden paint on the walls was still visible under all the grime.

Elias, flashlight in hand, guided them further inside until they reached a stone wall that blocked their path. Neither of the three sisters bothered to ask where the entrance was, as they were well acquainted with secret trap doors that opened with the push of a hidden button.

The prince felt around the wall for a few moments, putting an ear to the cold stone. Eventually he pushed a particular stone, and with a triumphant "aha!", a noise of a mechanism working could be heard.

"You might want to step back."

As Elias said this, Marilyn made sure to move StarDust and Rose to solid ground, the part of the floor they had been previously standing on moving to reveal a black hole big enough for them to fit through. At first Rose was worried that they would have to jump down there and possibly break their legs, but luckily a moment later stone stairs slid out of slots in the walls of the seemingly never-ending hole, allowing them a way to walk down.

"Right this way" the prince signaled to them to follow him with a mere shake of his head in the direction of the hole, starting to walk the first few steps down.

The sisters looked at each other, and while StarDust and Rose merely shrugged, Marilyn muttered a "cool" under her breath.

The youngest Milers followed her sisters and Elias down the stairs, trying to stay as close to her oldest sister as possible when she heard the opening to the cave closing behind her. They were surrounded by darkness and their only source of light was Elias' flashlight. Great.

They went down the creepy-crawly cave, the only sounds being dripping water from some of the holes in the ground above them and their steps as they walked deeper and deeper. Eventually, Elias stopped in his tracks in front of another stone wall.

As he went to try and open another doorway, the prince gave Rose the flashlight, asking her to illuminate the wall as much as possible. She shrugged and did as he asked, though she didn't know how that was going to help.

"Can we go faster? This place creeps me out" Marilyn shivered and only looked embarrassed at her cowardice when StarDust put a protective hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to find the stupid button to open this" Elias muttered under his breath, though in the silence it was loud and clear, as he touched along the wall again "I don't know why father insisted on all these secret buttons. I mean, if they managed to figure out how to open the first door why would they have trouble with- Finally!"

The prince cut himself off as the sound of rumbling filled the cave, and the stone wall in front of them started retracting itself to reveal an open doorway that led into a stone hallway. Elias, with a thankful sigh, gestured with his hand for them to follow him inside. The sisters, still unsure of what they would find in this secret space, did so.

The first thing Rose noticed upon entering the room at the end of the hallway was the expensive floor under them, but it wasn't the most impressive thing in it. Artifacts that were believed to have been stolen from the castle were scattered artistically around the room like they had never been touched. Famous paintings of the royal family were hanging from the golden-colored walls, traces of silver slipped into the intricate designs that could only be seen if you looked closely. Further ahead was a long dinner table, and delicate chandeliers hung from the ceiling. It seemed that even in captivity, the royal family couldn't live without their luxuries.

She could frankly hardly believe it, yet what surprised her more than the hidden royal living room was the one person sitting at the very end of the table, calm and without a single mar on his face.

It was the king. William was alive and sitting right in front of them.

"Welcome back, son" the man greeted Elias with a jovial smile, and the prince sent him a soft one before practically running over and hugging the king tightly, betraying the fact that, really, he was just a big softy.

"I'm home, father" one could tell they both used titles like those merely because they were royalty. They seemed pretty united.

When they both let go, William directed his gaze to the three sisters, his wise black eyes lighting up "And you three must be the Freedom Squad, correct?"

"... Yes, sir" Rose's voice was quiet as she regarded the monarch in front of her, shocked out of her skin.

"Oh, you needn't use such formalities with me" the king shook his head, sending the Milers a smile "After all, you three are princesses. To you three, I'm nothing more than William."

"With all due respect sir," StarDust began, doing a small courtesy "We are illegitimate princesses. We do not deserve to speak to you in such a casual way."

Marilyn elbowed her sister and sent her a look, mostly because even she realized when it was rude to be too formal. Beside his father, Elias rolled his eyes at the oldest's words, but the man merely laughed.

"And so respectful too! But, I digress" standing proud, William directed them to the table with a grin, accentuating his five-o-clock shadow "Please, sit down. We have much to discuss."

With that, the king and the prince sat down and the three sisters followed, Rose trying not to look like a fish out of water.

This was... not what she'd been expecting at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: (At the beginning) A character being told that no one loves them and to die. Heavy stuff, but that part is extremely short. I think the rest of the chapter's fine.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooo lookie that! We're starting to earn our M rating at the bottom! Seriously check the warnings if you need to, I've already warned that there will be a lot of violence in the tags but still. It's relatively light when compared with a lot of stuff that happens later. There's several POV shifts between Yakko and Rose here, but it should be fairly easy to figure out whose POV you're seeing. If there's any confusion please do tell, I always appreciate help.
> 
> Warnings at the end notes.

After being shown to their seats, the three Milers listened intently to anything and everything the king had to say. William was unexpectedly talkative, and threw any and all questions that came to mind at them about no subject in particular. Their likes, dislikes, what animal they each liked, what flower, color, season they liked best, and other such meaningless things that none of the sisters were prepared to be asked. Rose didn't get the point, didn't understand what any of this had to do with dethroning Athena. She rather disliked small talk and wasting time talking about frivolous things; in her eyes, it was much better for people to refrain from trying to get on her good side by making her feel like they were interested in her, for them to get to the damn point. They were here on a mission, and William was just asking if they liked gold or silver better (saying that he, personally, preferred silver because he felt it was less ostentatious).

"I simply wanted to know the kind of people you are, considering that my son used to hang around you three quite a bit, if I'm not mistaken" the king admitted after Rose asked, very rudely by her older sister's standards, why he was asking about their preferences.

Elias went ramrod straight in shock, while the three sisters' eyes widened out of proportion "Y-You knew!?"

Back when he'd been little, Elias used to sneak out of the castle a lot because of boredom. On one occasion he'd been curious enough to wander into Aphrodite and ended up meeting the three sisters by complete accident. Thus, a friendship was born. He'd started sneaking out every couple of days to see them after that.

Marilyn had always been Elias' favorite, and Marilyn had always had a not-so-secret crush on Elias. StarDust had gone along with their games (though, being two years older, it had felt like she was babysitting them more than anything), but she had fun most of the time. Out of all three of them, Rose was the one who knew Elias the least. Why? Because almost every time he visited, she was away, only coming back almost an hour before Elias had to return home, saying she'd gone to see "her friend who lives in the forest".

Rose almost chuckled at the memory of Elias pouting at her when she got back from her visits, disgruntled at not having her undivided attention. Being the spoiled prince at that age, she understood that he'd needed all eyes to be on him or else he'd been doing something wrong.

William laughed at their reaction to his discovery, putting an arm around the tense prince's shoulders with a youthful energy that made him seem far younger than he really was. With a five-o-clock shadow like a Warner who'd just turned twenty, it was easy to see him as a little childish. However, Rose found it a little reassuring that the king wasn't a hard-ass like she'd been expecting. Quite the contrary actually; he seemed like a very laid back warner.

"You underestimate your father, Elias. I knew from the very beginning that you snuck out of the castle every few nights. Who you'd hang out with was a mystery, but your enthusiasm when I asked you to search for the Freedom Squad was quite telling."

"I didn't know I was so transparent" Elias mumbled, trying to discretely escape from his father's half-embrace, his face having fallen a bit after what he said next "... Are you angry at me?"

With a soft smile, William held him tighter "Of course I'm not mad at you, son. You know, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Though..." he chuckled, exuding happy energy "I wasn't nearly as popular with the ladies as you are."

Elias' face instantly became a color resembling a very ripe tomato, and Rose had to put a hand to her mouth not to snort so loudly that she would suddenly be the center of attention "D-Dad! That's not what this is!" finally able to escape from his father's grip, he tried to hide his face in his hands "And besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to than my love life!"

"As much as I like seeing Elias being embarrassed, he's right" Marilyn sent a smile to the king, but accommodated herself so that they could start talking business. Truth is, they had all been waiting for an opportunity to bring up the real reason for their visit "Athena's not going to wait for us to get to know each other."

"Sadly very true," William nodded, also adopting a more serious posture. The smile on his face did not disappear, but it certainly diminished a bit "We should try to end this dictatorship as soon as possible."

The childish side of the man was hidden away at that moment, and his authority as king took the stage. His eyes became hard and his back was suddenly straight as a board, not even thinking of saying anything remotely humorous anymore "I have been planning a counter-attack against Athena for quite a while now, and I have the necessary soldiers to do it. However..."

He sent the three sisters a serious look, showing them the map of Athena's castle on top of the table which had battle strategies written all over it "Just getting her out of the throne with another revolution won't do anything, considering she's got all the power in the country. She's too well guarded, and has too many resources, which would most likely allow her to rebuild easily and take my soldiers out without issue. We have to take her down little by little, debilitate her until we have an opening my men and I can exploit."

"I assume this is where we come in" StarDust interrupted, keeping her eyes set intently on the king, never once breaking eye-contact. She was silently studying him, Rose realized, probably wanting to form her own opinion on the man without being clouded by other people's words of praise or hatred.

William nodded, letting a small smile once again grace his middle-aged face "Precisely. You three already have the perfect cover to do this job, and my soldiers going around sabotaging Athena would be too suspicious. It could alert her to the fact that I am alive."

"Knowing her methods of getting information, that's very possible" Rose muttered.

She was pretty sure that if the king decided to do anything himself, Athena would immediately notice and would find William's hiding spot sooner rather than later. It was better to get them, an already established group who was known for sabotaging Athena already, to do his dirty work. That way, Athena would think it was all the Freedom Squad's doing, and would never even suspect that they were working with the king on the side, or that he was even alive. And then, when they finally decided to strike, Athena wouldn't be prepared for a battalion.

"My point is that I think an alliance would benefit both of us" the king continued "In the end, we have the same goal, do we not? Or were you thinking of establishing a democracy after dethroning Athena?"

"No, having a monarchy is fine as long as nobody like her tries to take over again" Marilyn answered, thinking it through. It would be hard to get the people to agree to a democracy, considering their kind had always been ruled by monarchies. That would have to be a 'let's think about it later' kind of plan "We were planning on searching for Elias to take the throne because... Well, we were pretty sure you'd kicked the bucket."

William, instead of taking offense like Rose thought he would, merely smiled at Marilyn's remark "I don't blame you for thinking that, after all, I was hiding myself on purpose. It merely means that my plan worked."

"So, quick question: Are you going to be telling us what to do, or is this just a formal arrangement with no changes to the way we've worked 'till now?" Rose, searching for further answers, dared to ask. Was there a point to this alliance at all?

William seemed happy that she'd brought the matter up, smiling at her "Neither, actually. I will not control your movements as a group, as you are already doing a fantastic job, though you may be getting there slowly. I might give you some advice as you go along, but what I would like you to do are a few specific things while you do your thing. Nothing actually concerning our plan to get Athena out of the throne."

That got the three Milers' attention.

"What sorts of things?" StarDust asked, her eyebrows slightly turned up in question.

The king, yet again, became serious, but was even more so this time around. His eyebrows furrowed a bit in worry, and he wrung his hands together, showing distress.

Considering he'd been calm up until then, this concerned the three sisters. What could have possibly bothered their king so much?

Finally, after a few moments of silence, he spoke "Elias bought to my attention that you found two kids whom he believes to be his brother and sister. The fact that their names are the same leads me to believe they really might be my children."

Rose tensed.

... That fucking blabbermouth.

Marilyn and StarDust looked over to Elias with displeased looks, not changing their expressions even after he embarrassedly shrugged at them. Rose, however, sent him a poisonous look, because damn it, Yakko had felt really bad about that and Elias just had to go and tell the king right away. He could have waited a bit or... something. Anything so that they could have thought of a back-up plan.

"Yes, he said that," Marilyn begun, looking slightly uncomfortable. Seems like Rose wasn't the only one who had been upset about Yakko's reaction "But we're sure it couldn't be, because they don't remember Elias and, besides, they already have a brother-"

Suddenly, as if he had remembered something that had been eating at his mind, the king blurted out "You mean there was someone with them?"

There was silence for a moment. A tense silence.

"... Someone, sir?" StarDust questioned, sounding confused "I'm afraid you will have to be more specific."

While her older sister asked that, Rose's mind's cogwheels were already turning.

The king's question had been said frantically, which could only mean that he was expecting someone in particular to have been found alongside Wakko and Dot. The question, however, was why he would be expecting this.

Besides, why had he suddenly changed the subject? Wasn't it more important to find out if his son and daughter were alive and well?

... Why was the person who was with them just as, if not more, important than his own children?

Instead of continuing to anxiously question them, William didn't respond for a few moments. He looked deep in thought, but like he was calming down. When Rose went to look at Elias, she saw, surprisingly, that the prince looked just as shocked at the sudden question as them.

Elias didn't know of this third person.

Why?

Finally, the king spoke tentatively "... Another branch of our family has asked for me to help them in their search for their missing child. They used to play with Wakko and Dot, and they were all very close."

Elias, who had been quiet for the duration of the talk, sent a bewildered look to the man, finally questioning him "Father? What are you talk-"

Hurriedly, William shushed him "Don't interrupt me, son."

Something wasn't right here.

Marilyn sent Rose a look, one that, instead of looking accusing, looked confused. "Why is he acting like this?" she was asking, not bothering to consider that the king was actually...

He was lying.

He was lying about something, but why would he lie? What could he possibly need to hide? Why were the origins of this person so secretive?

"I was simply thinking that they could have crossed paths with this child. It wouldn't have been possible for them to survive on their own at such a young age, after all. They had to have had someone who could protect them" William sighed, clearly trying to come up with excuses for his sudden question "This is merely speculation on my part, of course. I was just hoping to find them, as my cousin is desperate to find her child. They have black eyes and black hair just like the rest of the Warner family. Are you sure they weren't with Wakko and Dot?"

Rose suddenly tensed when a stray thought went through her mind.

A person being found with Wakko and Dot, secretive origins, black eyes and hair like the rest of the Warner family line-

He was looking for Yakko.

It hit her very suddenly, and she didn't know how she came to that conclusion, because William's description could, probably, fit many other warners in the family line, but she was sure. She could swear that she was right.

Was the story of his cousin true? Was that what he was lying about? Did he have a reason to lie about it anyway? She didn't know, but she knew, for a fact, that the "child" he was talking about was Yakko.

Perhaps, she thought, the reason why he was lying about Yakko's origin was simple. And then she thought, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, that maybe the reason why Elias didn't know Yakko existed even though they looked  _so_  stupidly similar, was because William could have had a mistress. And perhaps, just as a theory, Yakko was the son of said mistress. Perhaps William was now searching for him because he'd been alerted to the fact that he was alive and wanted to make sure that he wouldn't tell everyone in WarnerStock the truth.

That could actually wrap up the mystery easily.

And when she turned her head, when she saw Marilyn opening her mouth to, no doubt, say that they had indeed seen someone with Wakko and Dot who fit that description, Rose rudely interrupted her.

"No."

The king turned his head to her when he heard her sudden words. She'd said them calmly, so that he wouldn't suspect anything.

After everything she'd just thought, for whatever reason, she felt that, even if her theory was wrong (which it very well could be), she shouldn't let William know about Yakko. Call it what you will, but she didn't know the man well enough yet and she felt that as the leader of the Freedom Squad and as Yakko's friend, she had to protect him from potential harm. Not that she thought William would harm him or anything, but she didn't know his intentions and she wasn't about to risk Yakko's safety.

"They said they  _used_  to have a brother, but he got sick and died a few years ago."

... It was better to make him think Yakko didn't even exist.

Elias sent her a look and Rose just hoped that he would understand she'd had her reasons for lying and not tell the king the truth. Her little faith in him was already fading from the fact that he'd gone and tattled to William about Wakko and Dot so quickly.

William's eyes, which had been eyeing her doubtfully before, turned tired. Sad, almost. It kind of made her feel that maybe her theory had been more wrong than she'd thought (or maybe William had wanted to find Yakko to make him an official member of the family? Had she ruined his chance at finding his family again?), but for now, the point was that he'd believed her story.

"I see" the man sighed, and only nodded solemnly "I'm sure he was a good boy. Going back on topic, I would appreciate it if I could meet with the children. If there is even a very slight possibility that they're mine..." he put his forehead against his hand, looking, for the first time since the matter had been brought up, like a father mourning the death of his beloved children "I... I need to know that my babies are okay. It's not that far-fetched to think that they are alive... is it?"

StarDust, feeling suddenly very compassionate, sent the king a soft look "Of course not, your majesty. We'll arrange a meeting with them somewhere in the near future, if it will put you at ease."

"I would greatly appreciate that" William sent her a small smile, regaining his composure and sitting straight once again. However, the bags under his eyes gave a lot away "There is no need to rush it though. Make sure the kids are comfortable with that first... Perhaps they no longer wish to be found."

He shrugged sadly, looking put off but he didn't talk about that any further "Anyway, we've gotten off topic. We've said all that needed to be said, so to summarize: You do your thing, see what you can do about the children, and we will talk about further plans of action, perhaps by letter. I'll send Elias like I did last time; I'm sure you would appreciate seeing him more often as well. If you would like, I could allow him to stay over with you so long as it doesn't inconvenience you."

Elias, his eyes lit up, sent an infinitely grateful look to his father, but didn't move from his seat at the table even as the three sisters were standing up. He knew they'd need to do arrangements for anything like that to happen anytime soon.

Marilyn also looked extremely happy at the suggestion, and as they slipped past the door with an acknowledgement of the king's words and a goodbye, she chirped "Thank you so much, your majesty. We'll definitely keep it in mind."

"Oh, and one last thing," the king called out to them just as they were walking away, his eyes concerned "If you do find someone who matches the description of my cousin's child, notify me, will you? It would certainly be a weight off my shoulders."

Rose's mouth became a thin line, but she responded anyway "Will do, sir."

Like hell she would.

As they went up the stairs and out to the ruins of the castle, with the rain thankfully gone, Rose suddenly remembered that Yakko might still be angry at her even after they returned. That shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, but considering what she'd just thought about his well-being...

Yeah, she cared about the idiot, not only as a subordinate, but also as a person, as a friend. She hoped he wouldn't be  _too_  angry, at least not angry enough to poison her food, because with how good he was at cooking, she'd probably still eat it even with that knowledge.

And that thought only made her wonder what was wrong with her as they made the trek back to base.

* * *

\-- I told you she was trouble! --

\- It was my own fault. I brought it up, and she was right. -

Yakko, with a sigh, rolled around in his bed and did what he'd mostly been doing all day: moping.

He just couldn't believe he'd gotten into a fight with Rose over something so  _stupid_ ; he actually hadn't cared that much about not being able to go see the king, he'd just been overall irritated because not only had he slept terribly, but he also had gotten this foreboding feeling that had followed him around all day. He'd felt anxious, like he was waiting for something awful to happen. Was it just his imagination or were his instincts out of whack?

He chanced a peek at the small calendar he kept at a corner of his bedside table and wondered if it had something to do with the date. It felt like that, but he didn't understand what today's date meant. It wasn't his birthday, nor any of his siblings'. It wasn't a holiday.

Had something specific happened on this particular day? He couldn't remember anything bad having happened on this date from previous years...

Then he thought: Maybe he just couldn't remember that something had happened because he didn't have that particular memory. Maybe it was something from his past.

At that thought, he shook his head and tried to ignore the sickness that he felt to his stomach. Why exactly was this the first time that he felt like this in this date? Shouldn't he have felt uncomfortable each time this day came around in that case? Every year? Had something started triggering that memory but hadn't been able to quite get it out of his thick skull?

... Regardless of what had caused his bad mood, he'd been out of line, and Rose had simply put him back where he belonged. There was no reason to be angry at her.

The voice didn't agree though.

\-- It wasn't your fault. In the end, she shouldn't have treated you like that over something so meaningless. --

\- I shouldn't have said those things to her either. -

\-- It  _really_  doesn't excuse her behavior, Yakko. --

Yakko shrugged.

\- What do you want me to tell you? People make mistakes sometimes. I made a mistake and she did too, I guess. I'm willing to forgive stupid stuff like this. -

The voice paused a moment, and then sighed. Yakko could feel him crossing his arms.

\-- You forgive people too easily. --

\- Not always. -

\-- ... If you say so. --

Yakko's mind began to wander. What could the sisters be talking to the king about? Would it be super important secret stuff, or would they just fill them in the moment they came back? However, most importantly, he was wondering, a bit nervous, if Elias had told the king about his siblings, if they would come to take Wakko and Dot away.

He knew it was a ridiculous thought because his brother and sister really did "adore him" as Rose had said, and he wouldn't let anyone take them away from him, but that didn't mean the fear wasn't there. If they really belonged with William and Elias, and if they wanted to be with them, then Yakko wasn't going to interfere no matter how much it would hurt. He only wanted what was best for them... Maybe the place they were meant to be just wasn't by his side.

Starting to feel depressed, he pressed his face against the pillow, ignoring the knocking on the door. Unless the person on the other side was either Wakko or Dot telling him they were not going anywhere, he wasn't interested in what they had to say.

"... Yakko?"

When the voice that came from the door proved to be a hesitant Rose however, he reluctantly sat up, sending a tired look to her face that peeked from behind the door.

"Hey" was his only response, and when he saw that she'd acknowledged his words with a small nod, he let himself fall back on his bed, putting his face back against his pillow.

He heard her enter quietly, tentatively, closing the door almost silently. It was as if she was trying not to disturb him. Was she worried that he was still angry?

Nah, that couldn't be it, right? Rose wouldn't care. It wasn't really in her nature to be concerned about that sort of stuff. She knew she was right, so why would she be worried about his thoughts on the matter?

As Yakko heard her sit down on her own bed, Rose let out a sigh.

"You didn't even make the bed before falling face-first into it."

He only groaned in response.

When she didn't say anything for a while, he dared peek from the small space between his face and the pillow at her. She was looking to the side, a small frown on her face, with her hands in her lap. She looked thoughtful, as if she knew what to say but wasn't sure how to say it.

"Did anything happen while we were gone?" was the first thing to come out of her mouth, like small talk.

Yakko only sent her a raised eyebrow "No. Should it have?"

"No..." Rose bit her lip with a frustrated expression that betrayed her thoughts. 'Why is it so hard to have a conversation with this guy?' "It's just that with your tendency to bring about strange things, I wouldn't have been surprised if something weird had happened. I mean, we just sent you to go grocery shopping and you ended up with Elias. Well, more like ended up being pummeled to the ground by him."

"Darn it that was  _one time_ " he complained, turning to give her a disapproving look. For some reason Rose looked pleased at his movement.

\- Was she just trying to get me to look at her directly? -

"If you don't want me to hold that over your head for the rest of time you better show me you can do better" she sent him a grin but he was still too mopey to think about a proper comeback.

He sighed "Look, is there a point to this conversation or can I go back to feeling sorry for myself?"

And just like that, the grin on her face disappeared, being replaced by a somewhat guilty look. When Yakko declined the chance to banter it was clear that something was wrong.

"Uh, yeah, I got kind of... sidetracked" she avoided his gaze, took a deep breath, and finally looked him in the eyes again "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I could've been more understanding and I shouldn't have yelled at you."

This, he frankly wasn't expecting.

With risen brows, he stared at her in silent disbelief. He'd been the one in the wrong, so why was she apologizing?

"I just didn't want you to misunderstand. I'm not angry at you, I just got frustrated" she sighed quietly, but looked at him with honest eyes "I... just wanted you to know that I'll try to be more tolerant from now on. Even as a teacher, I still have a lot to learn."

Then, she went silent, as if she was expecting something of him. Maybe an affirmation that he wasn't upset at her either, or maybe she was expecting him to apologize back to her. Either way, she was waiting, and it was clear that the only thing she wouldn't take as an answer was silence.

"Um, thank you? But I was the one who brought it up when I knew you couldn't really do anything about it" he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, not really sure of how to respond to such an honest apology that wasn't even necessary. He settled for being honest in return "I understand why you did that. I was being stubborn and not listening to you, and besides... You were right. I was just being a hypocrite, as if I wasn't the one who didn't want those close to me to get hurt... as if I wasn't the one who wanted to keep them safe."

Rose merely stared at him through his confession, looking sort of relieved that he understood "I'm sure it's obvious by now, but Wakko and Dot are very important to me. They're my family and... if something happened to them, I would never forgive myself. You're right, I am hoping that this is over as fast as possible so that there are less chances for them to get hurt. I also know that thinking like that is pretty pointless when I can't do anything to stop it" with a small shake of his head, looking at his lap, he continued, although his voice was sad and worried "If I'd had the possibility of keeping them out of this, I would have in an instant, but I know that's not possible. The only thing I can really do about the situation is lament the fact that we've ended up in it."

Rose stopped looking at him to stare at her fingers, her eyes once again guilty, as if feeling responsible for the hopelessness he was experiencing. However, she'd been their best bet when coming to WarnerStock, and it wasn't as if she'd forced them to join the Freedom Squad. She'd merely given them another choice. Yakko had made his choice, and though he was struggling with it, he had no regrets. At least they were warm and well-fed, with a roof over their heads. It could be worse.

To express these thoughts to the blonde in front of him, he raised his head again to look at her. Sensing his gaze, she tentatively posed her eyes back onto his "Things may be hard, but... With you guys here, it doesn't feel as bad" her expression turned into one of surprise and he attempted to send her a smile "I mean, I already feel like, uh..." he paused for a moment, a little embarrassed "... Like we're kinda becoming this big family, all of us. It's nice."

"... I'm glad you guys took us in. I'm sorry for not listening" having finished, he let out a small gust of air as he closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw that Rose was smiling back at him. It was warm, and there was affection in her eyes as she shuffled in place, clearly a little embarrassed by his words as well, but happy.

"You're welcome, and... thank you. For understanding."

It was funny, in a strange way, how nice it felt to be able to get to an understanding with Rose. It felt as if most of their fights stemmed from the fact that they still knew little about each other, and getting to understand how they each worked seemed to put them at ease. Yakko just knew that he'd have to learn to keep his mouth shut when he was thinking of saying something stupid that he didn't even mean.

Suddenly, Rose's smile strained a little "I know it doesn't excuse my behavior, but... Today is kind of a bad day for me."

He looked up at her in surprise at her sudden words. A bad day? Was it the date?

... Just like him...?

Yakko took a deep breath as he stared at her, skeptical. Her eyes reflected a bit of sadness and a lot of anger. He was sure that their reasons for loathing this day in particular had to be different, but he was curious as to why she considered it a bad day.

"Why? Did something happen?"

She frowned deeply and he saw her jaw tighten. Maybe he shouldn't have asked.

But she answered anyway.

"Yeah, Rob-" she cut herself off, thinking better of it and sighing "My father died a long time ago on this date."

Oh.

"Oh... I'm sorry" he mumbled out, not sure what else to say. It definitely explained why she'd had less patience than usual.

However, in an unexpected move, Rose just shrugged. She shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal "Don't be. He was an asshole anyway."

... Oh...?

Well,  _that_  explained why she'd been about to call him by name instead of saying "my father". Then again, neither StarDust nor Marilyn had acted too differently that day, which was odd.

Actually... they had had this strange aura of relief to them. Why would Rose take it differently?

It wasn't his place to ask, however, so he didn't. Instead, he decided to ask something else "So... Is what you discussed with the King confidential? Well, if he was actually there and wasn't a product of Little Prince's imagination."

Seemingly thankful for the change of topic, Rose answered in a somewhat sheepish tone "He was actually there, but we didn't discuss anything ground-breaking. He's just going to be our ally and every once in a while he might give us a mission, but according to him, we'll keep working as we have been."

\-- Say... Is it just me or does it sound like she's hiding something from you? --

Yakko lifted his eyebrows in surprise at the voice's statement, but thankfully it seemed Rose had taken it as him being surprised by her words.

\- You were listening? -

\-- Obviously. I was waiting for her apology which... I'm surprised she gave, but that only got her about two brownie points in my book. --

\- And how many does she have? -

The voice seemed to think about it for a bit.

\-- So far? Minus two. --

Yakko was tempted to snort.

\- Oh come on, she's not  _that_  bad. -

\-- Hey, she was at minus four a few minutes ago. Be glad I gave her that much. --

To make sure Rose didn't start staring at him and waiting for a response, he replied to her, hoping he wouldn't mix up the conversations "So meeting with him was pointless?"

She smiled weirdly at him "Not quite. There is one important thing that we discussed..." at this, she frowned slightly and the smile disappeared from her face. It made him sort of nervous.

"Which was...?" he stared at her expectantly, wondering what it could be that was making her so uncomfortable. Was it something about his siblings?

Rose sighed "Yakko, there's something very important I have to ask you."

He gulped quietly, leaning forward on his bed a little "Yes...?"

There was silence for a while, and Rose looked at him as if she were about to ask him something that could change his world. All Yakko could do was wait for her question.

Finally, after taking a deep breath, Rose asked, with a defeated air "Could you ask Wakko and Dot if they would want to meet with someone who could be their father?"

He almost froze, but when he recalled what Elias had said a day before, he only slouched on his seat "Yeah... I'll ask them" of course the prince had snitched. The king wouldn't just give up when he knew that two children that could very well be his were right there waiting to be reunited with him.

Then, he looked up at her "Was that all you wanted to ask?"

She bit her lip.

"... Yeah... That was it."

\-- ... Something's bothering her. --

\- How do you figure? -

The voice sighed.

\-- Didn't you see how she was looking at you? She feels guilty about something... There's a lie she told in there, somewhere. --

\- It's probably for a good reason. -

\-- What?! You never let  _me_  get away with shit like that! --

Eh, he did have a point. It was just that Rose was a lot more straightforward and blunt, so he didn't worry as much when she didn't tell him something. And besides, the things she hid from him didn't involve him or his past...

\- I'll pester her about it later? -

The voice grumbled, still clearly annoyed by the show of favoritism.

\-- ... Fine. But next time I don't tell you something I demand a Get out of Jail Free card. --

Yakko rolled his eyes internally at him, tuning back to Rose when she suddenly stood up. She motioned for him to follow and they ended up going out the door, through the hallway, and to the living room.

The moment they got there, Rose said "I know this'll probably feel very stupid after the fight we had, but uh, I managed to get a mission for you guys to do with us."

He immediately sprang up and looked at her with hope in his eyes "Really? We're not just going to be stuck here dying of boredom and anticipation?"

She sent him a look but smiled "Yes, really. We'll go over the details in a few hours. It's simple, so we'll go do it tomorrow" then, she punched him lightly on the shoulder "Now go cook something, I'm starving and I bet so is everyone else."

"Aye aye, cap'n" he just slipped over to the kitchen without complaint.

He decided he would cook something good, since the three sisters had missed breakfast and would no doubt need a big lunch to keep their hunger at bay (especially after Rose had jokingly complained to him). Besides, he wanted to make up for his earlier fight with Rose by making good food. Though, he thought with a confident smile, his food was always good regardless.

As he began to heat a pan over the stove to make some omelets, Yakko didn't notice the way Rose looked guiltily over at him.

* * *

As Rose's consciousness drifted off and a distinct heaviness began to swirl around in her chest, she could only think one thing.

If only she'd kept her mouth shut.

If she'd shut up and not told Yakko about the reason she'd been so tense and upset that day, she thought, she wouldn't be sitting down in her house with another person at the moment. She wouldn't be smiling with this person she considered her best friend, knowing that in a few moments, this person's laugh would turn into breathless gasps as they tried desperately to live.

If she hadn't been stupid enough to tell, she wouldn't be having this dream.

Well, it was technically a memory, but since she was sleeping, it felt like a dream. The only differences where that she could feel the cold wood underneath her, could smell the faint hint of cinnamon in the air that her house had always seemed to have, could feel a bruise still on her ribs even after a week of the time when she'd dared protect Marilyn from Robert's wrath.

Around this time of year, she always seemed to recall this day. She'd been able to avoid remembering this the last few years, but talking about it so suddenly after such a long time of having kept it secret, it had popped up again. Rose wanted to kill something.

That was probably not a good thought to have, considering what would go down just a few minutes from now in her memory.

_Currently, she and the other girl were sitting on the floor of the modest house, playing a board game. Rose clearly remembered they'd been playing checkers, and that her friend had beaten her four times before Rose had declared with an annoyed expression, much to the amusement of the other child, that she wanted to play something else._

_Still, this was a rather inconsequential detail of the memory. Rose only remembered because her friend had been so much smarter and better than her at everything, though she'd received her education much further down the line._

_"You're not allowed to be this good at strategy games!" Rose pouted at her, and the other sent her a happy smile. Rose could feel her chest warming at the unusual sight._

_"(-)" the girl continued smiling behind her hand, and Rose knew her lips were moving, but she could not for the life of her remember what she'd said or in what tone she'd said it._

_It was depressing._

_Still, Rose was used to this and only stiffened a sigh as she brought another game off the shelf in her memory. It was a chess board this time._

_"Bet you can't win at thi-"_

_She'd never managed to finish her sentence._

_The door suddenly opened with great force, and someone came in. They had both gone silent, tense, because no one was supposed to come back so soon. Rose had specifically brought the girl to her house at this time because she'd known nobody would see them._

_They weren't supposed to see her._

_Still, this didn't stop the older warner male to walk past the entrance to the living room, where they'd been playing. It didn't stop him from freezing, from posing his deep green gaze on her friend, whose eyes were huge as her body shook._

_"Angela Milers-" Rose had immediately cringed and her heart had started beating faster at the monster saying her full name. That never meant anything good. His words were slurred, he'd obviously been drinking. That also never meant anything good "Who is this?"_

_Rose's mouth opened and closed as she instinctively shifted closer to her friend. A feeble attempt to protect her "This… is my friend… D-Dad."_

_It couldn't be that simple. Rose had known it couldn't be._

_The man's eyes turned cold. They were freezing, and Rose shivered, as if those eyes had turned her very core to ice._

_"What did I tell you about bringing "friends" home?"_

_Rose gulped._

_"T-That I wasn't allowed… to bring another... m-mouth to feed-" she began quietly, her lips quivering, but she could only flinch as she was interrupted by a sudden shout._

_"Exactly! And if you fucking know that, why the hell is **that**  doing here!?" in a rude gesture, though that was the least damaging of the things he could do, the man pointed at her friend with an accusatory index finger._

_The girl shook worse under her father's scrutiny, and suddenly, as if she'd never had an expression on her face in the first place, she stopped moving and her currently non-existent eyes turned cold. She suddenly looked terrifyingly apathetic._

_… No…_

_No._

_That horrible man wasn't allowed to turn her friend back into… Turn her back into this **shell**  of a person. He wasn't allowed to destroy all of Rose's, and her hard work._

_Rose's blood boiled. So much so, that a sudden rage coursed through her veins. She found herself standing in front of the man a moment later, her fists clenched, her expression going from submissive to one of hatred._

_"Don't call her a **"that"**! She's not a thing!"_

_She should have, by all accounts, seen it coming. She'd known what the consequences for disobeying her father were. She'd known what his favorite method of solving fights was._

_And she still didn't see the punch until it'd literally hit her across the face._

_At that point she couldn't remember things as clearly, and that was saying a lot considering her friend had been nothing but a silhouette without a face for the whole duration of the memory. But hey, being sent flying into a wall and hitting your head so hard that it bounced back would do that to you._

_She could only hear arguing and feel the cold floor against her face. She heard a monotone voice, angry shouts, someone being hit repeatedly. That was when she couldn't accept just lying there anymore. Even if the man continued abusing her, maybe even had her sent to the hospital again, Rose couldn't let her friend be hurt more than she already was on a daily basis._

_She opened her eyes slowly, blinking heavily several times, and when she finally managed to shift her gaze over to where the other two people had been fighting… she wished she hadn't looked at all._

_But thank God that she had, because the monster had the child in the air._

_And he was strangling her._

_Rose's gasp echoed throughout the small house as she shakily stood up, her legs wobbly, her breathing labored, but nothing like what her friend was experiencing she was sure._

_The poor girl was kicking the air desperately, her tiny black furred hands scratching Robert's own that were constricted around her neck. Her small mouth was opened wide, trying to take even a tiny gasp of breath to no avail. Rose knew from her tiny frame that was slightly hidden by her waist-long black hair that she was too weak to fight against the man, even drunk as he was._

_If Rose didn't do anything, the child would die._

_Her heart was beating so fast she almost thought she would faint from the panic alone. She couldn't let her die; she couldn't let the person who'd made her happy to be alive, the person who had given her a purpose in life, die._

_Rose's eyes frantically searched the room in an effort to find a weapon, anything she could use to detach the man's hands from the girl's neck, because she knew that her own tiny hands would not be enough. There were no useful items in sight though, and she was convinced that if she tried grabbing a knife from the kitchen, by the time she would be back, her friend would have suffocated._

_Then she remembered that there was a pipe that needed fixing, and that Robert had left the spare under the living room cupboard for easy access._

_Blessing the useless plumbing in her house, Rose ran to the cupboard, grabbed the pipe that was under it, and ran back to where the man was, his back to her. She could hear loud curses coming from him, along with the small strangled noises her friend was making as she tried to kick him off. But what really made her shaking, terrified body act had been a different set of movements from the child._

_The girl's hands started slackening around her father's wrists. Her feet stopped kicking. Her head slumped. Her arms fell to her sides._

_Either she'd passed out or she was already dead._

_With all the fury she had been accumulating all those years, all those miserable years taking every punch and kick and curse of her existence, Rose yelled and swung the pipe with as much force as she could muster against the man's back._

_Once. Twice. Three times._

_The man let go. The girl slipped from his hands and fell limp to the floor._

_"You piece of shit-"_

_Rose had effectively turned Robert's rage back toward her, but she could honestly not care enough at the moment to give him even an ounce of her attention. All of it was on the child on the floor, and as Rose desperately shook the girl, trying to get her to respond, she didn't bother noticing that the man had picked up the pipe she'd dropped._

_Her thoughts were a mess of "no"s and "she's dead"s and "it's all my fault"s, all swirling in a vortex of horror and pain as tears slid down her face. She'd disregarded her own safety to the point that, when the man swung the pipe like a baseball bat at her stomach and flung her across the room, she only crawled back with a hand to her damaged body and continued to shield her dear friend from the monster's attacks with her back._

_This seemed to enrage Robert all the more, and as she continued to shake the girl on the wooden floor, the man swore at her and continued trying to kill her with the pipe._

_"Please wake up! I beg you! Wake up!" she cried and screamed and cried out in pain whenever the pipe would connect with a part of her body. Thankfully, it seemed the man was so blinded by rage and whisky that he couldn't aim properly and just narrowly missed hitting her vital points._

_He got so frustrated by this that he eventually just flung the pipe aside and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her so that he flung her against the wall, ignoring her shrieks of pain and outrage at being separated from her friend. He just decided to keep punching her, since that seemed to work._

_At that point she couldn't understand what the man was yelling at her; her head felt like lead, and though she was trying to shield herself from Robert's punches, she was quickly beginning to faint._

_"… Why…?" she sobbed quietly, without any energy, as she held her stomach, which he'd hit repeatedly "Why… did you hurt her…? What did she ever do to you…?"_

_She continued sobbing, and the man continued beating her, ignoring her screams and squeals of pain. Rose could distinctly hear the sound of someone slipping into the kitchen, of silverware being moved around, and wondered if Robert had called someone there to help him kill the two girls and she just hadn't heard them come in._

_She couldn't do anything about it though, because by the time she'd recognized a lock of black hair, a thin body, and the shine of her mother's favorite silver knife, her body gave out and her world turned black._

_Rose couldn't remember much after that. She could recall waking up, could recall seeing the image of Robert on the floor in immense pain with blood dripping all over him, could remember the way the knife was being punctured into the flesh of his back._

_She could remember the sounds of the blood dripping on the floor, the sound of meat being punctured. The man's screams. Her own cries of fright._

_All she really knew was that Robert had died that day._

_He'd been murdered._

_Not only that, but he'd been absolutely **butchered** \- apparently his back had been stabbed brutally a grand totally of fifteen times before the attacker stopped, as if to make absolutely sure that he would never get back up._

_Rose didn't know if her friend had truly been the one who killed the man. She just looked so harmless, so small and so kind. Then again, don't judge a book by its cover._

_Regardless of who had killed him, the man was dead, and they were alive. That was all that mattered. They were alive, and he was dead._

_They'd fought, and they'd survived._

_That was what had been passing through her mind as she sat there in absolute shock, staring at the slack face of the man whom she'd once loosely called father. Her friend's shirt was stained with blood; even her **face**  was stained with blood. His blood. Rose's dress had gotten a similar, less messy treatment._

_The tiny, seemingly harmless girl crawled over to her, her body shaking heavily. She was saying something, but Rose couldn't hear her. Her voice was drowned out by heavy static, one that she couldn't get rid of._

_Still, in the memory, her voice calmed Rose down, and when the child got to her, she hugged Rose tightly. She didn't know what to think about her friend's actions - she was still shocked and probably thoroughly traumatized from the whole experience - but the girl's body was so warm, so full of life, that Rose shakily hugged her back._

_When she pressed her ear to the child's chest and heard her heart beating wildly, the spell broke and Rose began sobbing loudly, clutching the tiny girl to her chest like she would break._

_She could feel her friend's arms clutching her just as tightly, but the child didn't seem frightened anymore. She seemed relieved._

_She let go of Rose, moved slightly away so that she could look at her face. Then she smiled and said the only words Rose could remember her friend saying to her, the only time she could revisit her tone and voice. For whatever reason, these words weren't scratched out of her memory like all the others._

_"Don't worry Angie," she always said to her in this memory, her hold loving and her voice far too soft. Weak, but gentle "I'll protect you from now on."_

_In her memory, Rose was too shocked by her friend's words to properly respond aside from hugging her even tighter than before. She was calm again, happy to be with the child she'd held so dear to her heart for so long._

_Still, every dream has to end._

And that was how Rose woke up with a gasp, cold sweat running down her back and hair a mess from all her twisting and turning. Just like every time she had that dream, she forgot the tone the girl had had, her voice.

She was tempted to cry herself back to sleep when she remembered that her best friend was  _dead_ , but when her gaze traveled over to a sleeping Yakko who only stirred slightly and frowned in his sleep at her whimper, she thought better of it. She didn't need him waking up and asking her what was wrong.

Rose turned around, giving him a view of her back, and tried to go back to sleep, wishing that she could remember her friend's name, and how she'd died.

That would probably not put her at ease, but it would certainly stop the churning in her chest when she wondered if the child had died because of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: Blood, child abuse, strangling, heavy depictions of violence, minor character death


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've started writing some Undertale stories since this one was giving me difficulties. If any of you like Sans x Reader, heads up, I might be uploading a few fics at some point. This story is still my priority though, so don't worry about it dying OvO
> 
> Remember when I said last chapter that things were gonna get worse? Things got worse. Please look at the warnings in the end notes if you need to, this chapter always makes me a little queasy whenever I re-read it and it's not even that bad when it comes to how descriptive it is. Thumbs up if you're traumatized after this!
> 
> Warnings at the end notes.

"Ow! Dot, quit kicking me!"

"You're the one who's got his foot in my face, Wakko!"

"Guys! Shh!"

Yakko grunted and glared at the darkness as the feet of both his siblings connected with his stomach in their attempt to terrorize each other. Since they couldn't see anything in the darkness they thought they'd gotten each other and continued arguing. Yakko just rolled his eyes and hoped one of the Milers would come get them soon.

When Rose had told him that they would finally get to do a mission the day before, this wasn't what he'd imagined. Sitting inside a cold, desolate box of cucumbers, waiting for the three Milers to do their part of the plan wasn't exactly what they would like to be doing.

Marilyn had given them the debriefing, saying that they were going to be "borrowing" some supplies from a rich butcher's back in Aphrodite. According to Rose, it was a fairly simple mission (or robbery, which was essentially what they were doing) since they were going to be breaking into the butcher's at night and nobody was going to report a robbery happening in Aphrodite. Most warners living in the city were too uncaring to help someone else by calling the cops. They'd gotten so blinded by their own problems they hardly cared about those of others, and Rose had argued that even if someone did end up calling the cops on them they would be long gone before the police arrived.

Yakko  _really_  didn't like stealing, especially when the person they would be stealing from hadn't done anything wrong. When he'd tried to talk it over with Rose though, she'd just told him to understand that this was how low they had to go, that this was how poor most of the population was. She'd explained that she couldn't send them to steal money from Athena's vault because the castle was too well secured for the three siblings' level of experience, and that this was the easiest actual mission she'd been able to come up with.

Besides, the three Milers had knowledge of quite a few poor circles back in Artemis that were in desperate need of food, and StarDust had suggested that they actually bring them such instead of sending money that they could end up accidentally wasting, since most had little to no education and could be easily fooled into an awful business deal when shopping. Aparently there were many sellers who took advantage of the poorer parts of WarnerStock by charging them far more than they should for their purchases.

Yakko had just sighed and let it go, mostly because he'd known about such a thing happening from human territory, where this was fairly common, and decided that regardless of his morals they were right. He'd thought that maybe warners weren't as despicable in wanting to take advantage of others, but unfortunately it seemed they were just as bad. He'd had a little too much faith in his species it seemed.

StarDust had gotten each of them one of the black suits she and her sisters had been wearing when they had first met, after making sure she knew their measurements of course. She'd proudly presented the suits to them, and Wakko and Dot's eyes had almost sparkled as they'd put them on, whispering excitedly to Yakko that they looked like ninjas. He'd just snorted and taken his own suit, not a fan of the restrictive material but prepared to put up with it.

After the sisters had given each of them their uniform and some weapons just in case things turned ugly, Rose'd explained the plan in great detail. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot were to wait in a secluded area where nobody would spot them until the three sisters went to get them. StarDust, Marilyn, and Rose, after guiding them to said hiding spot, were going to find a way into the butcher's, make sure they disabled any alarms that could hinder their mission, and retrieve them. They would all then sneak in, take as much meat as they could take, and return to base.

It was that simple.

Yakko noticed that Wakko and Dot were cranky at the fact that their part in such a mission was so small and that this was probably the reason why they were currently trying to kick each other to death. They were taking their frustration out on each other because they didn't want to seem childish in front of the Milers by complaining about their small role, but God forbid they give him the same courtesy. Yakko hadn't even bothered to say anything; after the pointless fight he'd had with Rose, he'd fortunately learned that he needed to be patient, and besides, what was so bad about not having to do anything besides stuff meat in bags? Well, aside from being stuck inside the box he'd already mentioned which, by the way, was very cramped and hard to move in, even for how big it was considering the three of them fit in it. This was also why his  _beloved_  brother and sister kept kicking him and probably ended giving him  _adorable_  bruises.

Why the heck did he love these two. He should demand a refund and get himself another pair of siblings, because these ones just gave him a headache.

"If you two keep kicking me I swear to everything that is holy you'll both be grounded 'till you're eighteen!" he hissed out as he managed to grab both their ankles on the legs that had been about to strike him yet again. A moment later he heard two very distinct "eep!"s.

"Sorry, Yakko" they both squeaked in unison, and the crate went still.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank God that was over.

At that moment, the crate conveniently opened and light flooded into it, blinding them for a second. When they could finally see again, they were greeted by Rose's decidedly  _not_  amused face.

"It's a good thing that there's not a soul out here at this hour, because otherwise you'd already have been caught and hung by your tongues."

Wakko and Dot grimaced at the thought, but Yakko just pleaded with his eyes for her to let him into the outside world once again for some much needed space. Thankfully, she sent him a compassionate, knowing look and stepped aside, moment in which he practically flew out of the box.

"Freedom!" Yakko whispered loudly as he stretched his muscles with glee. He would have shouted, but the success of their mission depended on them being sneaky and quiet, and screaming out that he was finally out of that kick-in-a-box would definitely ruin everything.

"You too. Be quiet or I'll hang you from your tongue myself" Rose, now in a better mood, jokingly punched his arm and sent him a smirk "We have to get going. Marilyn's already disabled the alarm and StarDust's managed to pick the locks, so all that's left is to get you guys there. Hope none of you are squeamish about raw meat in your face."

Yakko could practically feel the voice brooding in his head at Rose's comment. Knowing what the mission was about had made him extremely cranky for... reasons.

With that said, Rose turned around and waved a hand behind her so they would follow her. Luckily, StarDust had already left them only a block away from the butcher's so that they would have more chances of getting away in case the sisters were found out (not that that was likely to happen), so it didn't take them long at all to arrive at the building. Obviously, being sneaky did not mean entering through the front door in the middle of the night, so instead of admiring the huge sign on top of the door and shoving it open, Rose led them around the building toward the back. When Rose tried pulling the back door, true to her word, it opened easily, courtesy of her older and twin sister's work.

Instead of going in first, Rose made a mock-courtesy at him, sent him a smirk, and motioned for him to get inside with her arms. Yakko merely huffed at her, kept his head up high, and entered, trying not to smile.

The building wasn't anything Yakko hadn't ever seen before. It was the ordinary back of an ordinary butcher's shop, with several knives and other utensils to cut meat sitting on top of a wooden table, which he eyed wearily. In front of them was a door, which Yakko supposed lead to the freezers, and Marilyn and StarDust were standing there, waiting for them. Next to their feet were several bags they could put the meat in and they held disposable gloves in their hands.

"Alright guys," Rose began when they were all inside and she'd closed the door, putting her hands together and giving them a serious look. As she spoke, everyone put on their gloves "Don't think about how easy this was, just concentrate on getting as much loot as possible. And don't be greedy; these bags can only hold so much weight before they give out."

The collective nod she received seemed to be enough for her to open the door in front of them and go inside, prompting them forward with a hand. They slipped past the entrance way, one by one, each with a bag in hand. Yakko, being the last to enter, ignored what was in front of him and turned around to close the door behind him.

However, when he went to turn back around, he froze.

It wasn't that he'd forgotten this was one of the things he was strangely nauseated by, like white walls. It wasn't that he'd forgotten where the mission would take place, or what they were supposed to be doing. It wasn't that he'd forgotten he hated the sight of meat. He'd just hoped that with time this would have fixed itself, but it clearly hadn't, judging by the way his hair stood on end when his eyes lied upon the rows and rows of big chunks of meat hanging from the ceiling.

He probably should have warned Rose about his strange meat-phobia, but he'd been too scared of sounding like an idiot. The voice let out a barely heard growl at the way he started to shake in place.

As the three sisters got to work, their backs to him, he was actually not surprised that Wakko and Dot had stopped in their tracks with him and were currently staring at him as if asking "can you really do this?" If he had any phobias his siblings knew about them already. In one way or another, they'd found out he hated these things with him, because, being an amnesiac, he hadn't known these things were horrible for him until he'd experienced them for the first time, and since they'd lived together for as long as he could remember... Well, you get the idea.

They looked after him as much as he looked after them, and they'd known this would be hard for him, but hadn't said anything to the sisters because they knew how ashamed he was of being horrified of every-day stuff. Like the issue with the voice, they were letting him decide what he wanted to do himself, since this was his problem.

Taking a deep breath and stifling the shakes, he discreetly nodded to them and walked forward with a bag in his hand. He was simply going to follow his original plan and hold out until they could return to the base; he'd even close his eyes if it was necessary. Though they immediately went to work, Yakko knew his siblings were still sending worried glances at him occasionally.

Trying to act natural and hoping he wouldn't throw up in the middle of the freezer, Yakko patted his stomach once for good luck and set out to stuff meat in his designated bag. He suddenly remembered Rose's earlier words of "hope none of you are squeamish about raw meat in your face." Oh, if only she knew.

Still, he found it surprisingly easy to do the job efficiently so long as he didn't think too much about it and ignored the shivers going down his spine every time he would pick up a piece. He was surprised he was not freaking out as much as he'd thought he would. Maybe it was because nobody was actually eating the meat.

When he grabbed a piece that felt particularly squishy and not properly refrigerated, to distract himself from the sudden need to hurl it across the room, he started watching the others.

The three sisters were the ones furthest away from the door, with him being the one closest to it. Wakko and Dot were in the middle, acting as some kind of barrier so none of the blondes could see Yakko acting strange. Rose, for some reason, seemed to be glancing behind her at all three of them every once in a while, as if reassuring herself that they were still there and that they were still okay. He figured she was nervous that this was the first mission she'd ever sent them on, and he felt slightly happy that she was so concerned. Underneath that tough exterior there was genuine care for them.

\-- I think that's enough, don't you? --

\- Eh? -

Yakko stopped his train of thought when the voice suddenly spoke.

\-- I said, I think that's enough meat. You should excuse yourself. --

For a moment, Yakko was about to ask the voice if he was actually serious, but the clipped way in which he'd said the words was answer enough.

\- We're in the middle of a mission! That would be terribly unprofessional. -

\-- Blondie said that you were supposed to tell her if you were having issues with anything. This is kinda the moment where you should tell her. Besides, that bag's about to burst… I think it'd be okay if you just waited in the backroom for a few minutes. --

As he looked down at his meat bag Yakko had to admit that it did look pretty full...

But there was still room for a little more before it became too much, and he was itching to be useful.

\- No way. I've already gone this far, just a little more isn't going to kill me. Heck, maybe my phobia is gone already. -

Yakko knew the voice wanted to roll his eyes, but instead, he just sighed.

\-- No Yakko, it's not gone. You're just ignoring the elephant in the room. --

\- … They always say you should face your fears? -

\-- You're not facing your fears, you could actually hurt yourself! Just let it go, I'm sure Blondie won't be angry at you if you explain. --

Surprising that the voice would defend Rose like that, but he was probably just using whatever excuse he could to convince Yakko. That wasn't really the problem though, and he looked down at his slightly bloodied disposable gloves with a grimace.

\- ... I'll sound ridiculous. This is ridiculous.  _I'm_  ridiculous. -

\-- You're not. You have your reasons. --

Yakko didn't even need to ask the voice to elaborate, because he continued in a tone that said he knew  _exactly_  what the problem was and that the knowledge was somehow messing him up just as much.

\-- ... Trust me on this. If you somehow remember, it could screw you up. --

Did that mean he had a shot at remembering something if he kept going?

That was how he decided that screw it, he was going to keep going, because he was strong and the thought of more information about his past excited him. Unwavering in his decision, he began filling the bag once more.

\-- Yakko! For God's sake, will you ever think before you fucking act? I just told you, you're going to hurt yourself! --

Yakko rolled his eyes.

\- Christ, quit being such a mom. I'm fine. -

\-- I'm dead serious, stop what you're doing right now and get out. --

\- Hm, let me think about it… No. -

It'd been a bit since the voice had growled that loudly, it almost made Yakko drop the piece he was holding.

\-- That stubbornness of yours is gonna get you killed. --

\- ... -

All in all, things were going pretty well. The voice's angry comments were keeping him distracted, and he'd almost completely filled his bag and made sure that it wasn't so heavy that it would rip. A moment later he lifted his head up to announce to Rose that he was done, feeling quite proud of himself for managing despite everything-

And that was when he knew he should have listened to the voice, because the meat hanging on the hooks had started to look like people.

He had the instinct to scream in surprise, to step back, maybe to ask one of the others if they saw it too or if he'd just gone crazy, but he didn't have the voice to. His body was frozen in fear, and his throat would only make an almost silent scratchy sound when he tried to speak.

A thought suddenly came to him as he realized what was actually going on. There were no people hanging from the ceiling, turning their heads toward him and staring at him with their soulless eyes, mouthing swear words at him as if it were somehow his fault that they were dead and hung on display. No, these figures were still the meat that had been there a few seconds ago.

He was just hallucinating.

\--  _Fuck_ , I fucking told you, I  _told_  you you were going to mess yourself up- --

The headache he'd felt back when he'd met Elias was back, but this time it was somehow even  _more_  painful. He faintly heard the voice telling him to turn his face around in a shaky tone, to stop looking at his hallucination of the people - at the meat - that was starting to cloud over, as if suddenly the room had been enveloped by fog. However, he was too focused on what was happening in front of him to pay attention to his worried friend.

The image in front of him distorted into another, an invisible entity pushing and pulling at the walls, at the objects, and at the others standing in front of him until, instead of the butcher's, he was at another place entirely. The walls were a deadly white, and were bent so as to form a room in the shape of a circle all together.

White walls.

_He was sitting down on the white ceramic floor underneath him along with several others, who were laughing and smiling among themselves. They were children, surely younger than him, but when he went to look around him and saw his thin arms and his tiny feet, he was pretty sure that he was a child too. They were holding metal bowls in their hands, and a huge black mass hovered over to them holding a container. He didn't know who the mass was, but he did know that they were an awful person and that he hated them._

_The person scratched out of his memory started putting something red and squishy inside the children's bowls, and they squealed in gratitude and started... eating._

_Sudden panic, horror, and disgust took over him._

_Nonononono they **weren't supposed to eat that!**_

_They didn't know any better, they were ecstatic about getting "good food" for once, but he knew what they were eating, and if they knew they would vomit it out just like he wanted to do just from looking at them-_

_"Yo, Dead Eyes" one of the children, who was directly in front of him suddenly called out. The small boy of hardly eight was looking at him as if he was an alien, disgust reflected on his features. Had they really nicknamed him Dead Eyes? "Eat, you weirdo. You think you're too good for food now?"_

_As if everyone had suddenly noticed he was the only one not touching his bowl, which he had moved as far away as possible from him with a shaky hand, they all lifted their heads to stare at him. They had all been eating so messily there was blood at the corners of their lips, and when they spoke among themselves he could see tiny pieces of meat wedged between their teeth-_

_Oh God, he was going to be sick._

_"You should eat" another person, this one sitting next to him, spoke in a gentler voice. When he turned his head, there was another black mass there, but this one had a red shade to it and an even gentler aura. He felt like this one was a friend "You'll starve otherwise... Who knows when they'll feed us again."_

_"I'm... not... hungry" he spoke in a tiny and scratchy voice against his will, though he knew that the one who had spoken hadn't been the present him, but the him in the past. These were things that had already happened._

_Everyone stared, but like hell he was touching that bowl, he'd rather starve. With his luck the meat would probably be Sunshine's liver or something-_

"Yakko?"

He jumped maybe three feet in the air when a hand touched his shoulder, and suddenly the room he'd been in and the children eating what had likely once been their friends disappeared. He was at the butcher's again, staring at the cuts of meat hanging from the hooks on the ceiling.

He turned around slowly, only to find Rose staring at him with a very confused expression on her face.

"What are you...?" when she saw how pale his face was she let the half-formed question go and her eyebrows rose to her hairline as her eyes widened "Holy shit, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"... I ..." his voice was stuck in his throat. He gave one last panic-filled glance toward the meat, which had gone back to normal, and turned his eyes back to Rose.

"I'm... fine... Just-" he almost held a hand to his mouth as if he were about to vomit- and the way his stomach rumbled unhappily when he noticed the still bloodied gloves and stopped himself in his tracks wasn't acting "Meat... It's... disgusting."

Rose seemed surprised, but a little less scared than she'd been before "Oh... Are you a vegetarian...?"

Not even close. He'd never had a problem with eating meat, especially white meat, because it could be on the table for everyone to enjoy and he'd be fine. He actually loved the taste of meat overall; it was the sight of  _others_  eating meat, more specifically  _red_  meat, that he couldn't stand. He remembered one time that he'd made steak, but the moment Wakko and Dot had been about to take a bite he'd panicked and told them not to eat it. That he'd cook something else.

After that little memory, he understood why. It seemed like, because he'd never actually eaten the... questionable meat in his past, he had no problem actually consuming any, but the sight of others eating it? It brought chills to his spine and made a cold sweat run down his neck.

This was too complicated to explain to Rose however "... Something like that."

The fact that they'd only eaten vegetables and food with wheat so far supported his story of vegetarianism. He was surprised nobody had cooked any meat yet, but apparently it was really expensive and Yakko had never been so thankful for inflation.

"... Oh" Rose looked like she didn't know what to say, and was eyeing him carefully, a bit worried still "Well, it's good to know. So long as you aren't vegan, we won't have a problem" she shrugged uncomfortably as she discreetly and gently moved him away from the dangling meat "They don't make the kind of supplements necessary for that sort of lifestyle here."

"… Right" he wasn't very interested in keeping the conversation going and he could tell Rose wasn't either, so he decided to change the topic drastically, clearing his throat. He quickly ripped the gross disposable gloves from his hands "So… Are you done?"

"Huh?" she seemed surprised that he'd spoken for a moment, probably because she'd spaced out, but quickly shook her head and replied with a shaky smile on her face "Um, yeah, I came to see if everyone else was done… Seems you are too."

With a weary sigh, Rose tugged his bag closed and handed it to him, clearly trying to make sure he was forced to see as little meat as possible from then on. She then proceeded to very gently push him in the direction of the door, nodding to him once.

"I'm just going to go check on everyone else, you get going. We'll be there in a minute."

As she walked away, Yakko gave a slightly winded growl of frustration. Great, now she thought that he couldn't handle the sight of food he couldn't eat. He'd ended up looking like a total buffoon.

He tried not to drag his feet as he opened the door to the backroom and closed it behind himself, letting out an involuntary sigh of relief as he did so.

\-- … Yakko... --

\- I know, I know. You were right, I was wrong… I'm sorry… -

He was still trying his best not to throw up in the middle of the room, and by the voice's tone it seemed like he was in a similar situation.

\-- You should have listened to me. --

\- I know. -

\-- Now you have a horrifying image of kids eating people in your head. Was that what you wanted? --

The voice didn't sound angry at all, just seemed tired and disgusted, but Yakko still took it like a personal attack. He hugged himself tightly.

\- No, of course not... I just, I just wanted- -

\-- To remember. To remember a horrible time in your life, one that I've told you again and again should just be left dead and buried. One that you  _insist_  on trying to dig up despite my warnings. --

\-- Did you think I wasn't telling you anything about your past because I like messing with you or something? These are the kinds of memories you have to look forward to if you keep digging. Is that really what you want? --

He felt tempted to slide down to the floor, tears prickling at his eyes. He knew he had no idea what he was doing, that he was a moron. Did the voice need to remind him?

\- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just want to... I don't want something I don't understand to control me... To control how I act. -

There was a pause in which the voice seemed to compose himself, and then he sighed. When he spoke next he sounded sad, sheepish and gentle.

\-- No... I'm sorry, it makes sense that you would feel like that. That you would want to know despite everything. I just... You get why I'm always trying to stop you? That memory may have been horrific, but at least it was mild because it was more the implication that was horrible. It wasn't like... Like they were eating a full leg, or arm or something. --

His fur frazzled at just the mental image, shuddering with eyes wide in disbelief.

-  _That_  was  _mild_? I'd hate to see what something intense looks like. -

After a moment, the voice took in a shuddering breath. His tone was miserable.

\-- ... You've seen horrible,  _horrible_  things, Yakko. I couldn't help you then, and I can't help you now. All I can really do is warn you. --

The words made his heart break a little. Did he really have to choose between knowledge and his own sanity? Wouldn't these memories come back by themselves eventually anyway?

As he pondered this, completely put off, he heard the door open and was suddenly face to face with a still worried Rose. Upon seeing his still disturbed face she seemed to worry even further, slowly getting closer to him and tentatively rising a hand to put on his shoulder. She let it drop immediately when he flinched at the motion.

"Well... Glad to see nobody came in to stop us. Good job keeping a lookout, Yakko."

He almost asked her what the heck she was talking about, but he realized this was just her cover story so as to not make him look bad. Honestly surprised and slightly touched at the fact that she'd caught on to his embarrassment about the whole thing and was trying to be tactful about it, he smiled a little. It hadn't been super effective, considering everyone was sending him slightly worried looks as they walked off to the back door, but at least she'd tried.

"No problem. I was, uh, getting bored in there anyway" as a thank you, he poked her arm when she slipped past him.

She didn't poke him back, but sent him an uncomfortable yet teasing smile "Oh, I'm sorry, I could send you alone next time? Make it more exciting?"

He laughed nervously at the thought "Please don't."

Rose laughed softly at that, waving him over to the backroom's door where everyone was watching the exchange with concern. Yakko was thankful for the fact that they could finally go back and he could leave all of this behind him.

He found it hard to fall asleep that night. He tossed and turned in his bed, and every time he closed his eyes he could see the memory, as if it was stuck to his eyelids. Even the voice wasn't able to calm him down.

Just- The sounds of them chewing, seeing them eating, even him touching his bowl to move it away- it was all so real. It felt like it was happening right at that moment, like he could do something to stop it even if this was an event that had happened long ago.

In the middle of one of his struggles to try and sleep, he heard Rose turn over in her own bed, and though for a moment he thought she would just continue sleeping, when she got up from her bed he knew he had woken her up. She wordlessly walked over to his bed and sat down next to his lying down body, gently tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

When he turned around to stare at her, trying to put his best mask of happiness on his face, she just gave him a serious yet gentle look.

"Hey," she whispered, knowing his ears were sensitive from the long period of silence "If something is ever bothering you, or if you know something is going to bother you about a mission before we go, tell me, okay? I can't have you freaking out in the middle of it."

It sort of felt like he was being reprimanded, and he slightly hid his face behind his sheets, ashamed at his childish actions "Sorry Rose…"

He felt her gently tugging his blanket down, and once he could see her again, he noticed her gaze had softened, and she lightly flicked his nose "I'm not telling you off, bozo. I'm saying your health matters to me, so… Just tell me. You're not the only one who has problems they're ashamed of."

It felt like they were… connecting, in a way, and he couldn't help but stare at her in mild surprise "… Okay. I'll… try."

Rose nodded. This seemed enough for her "Good. Now try to sleep, 'kay?"

Her consideration made him feel a lot lighter, and getting rid of the heaviness in his heart seemed to have awoken his sleepiness, for he yawned a moment later "'Kay."

Smiling at him, she went back to bed. He'd thought the conversation had ended, but when she covered herself with her blankets and he turned around to attempt sleeping once again, he heard her speak.

"Goodnight" she said quietly.

Somehow this made him feel even lighter.

"Goodnight" he replied just as quietly, but with a smile on his face.

They were definitely friends now.

\-- Whaaaaat, where's  _my_  goodnight? Unfair. --

Though he hadn't been expecting the voice to act up right then, let alone to sound so softly teasing as if trying to cheer him up even a little, Yakko smiled at his words and made himself comfortable in his bed.

\- Goodnight. -

\-- Damn straight. --

With that, Yakko closed his eyes, but before he fell asleep, he heard a much gentler tone coming from the voice.

\-- Goodnight. --

A bigger smile formed on his face at the words.

Somehow, he managed to fall asleep.

* * *

Hearing the girl laughing in the deep recesses of his mind was less alarming than it had been the first time, but it made him flinch nonetheless. He could tell she had gotten the slightest bit stronger from that little flashback.

 _"Nice going there"_  she let out a huff of a laugh, an imaginary drum-roll resounding in his head  _"And your reward for being a stubborn shithead is: a horrifying memory! I hope you're happy."_

\- Thanks for the reminder, not like I didn't beat myself up enough about it earlier. -

Yakko sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He wasn't going to be able to get any sleep at this rate, was he? This was, what, the fourth time he'd woken up now? What time even was it?

A glance at the alarm clock revealed it to be 3 am. Truly this time of night was his worst enemy. At least the voice was asleep, Yakko wouldn't hear the end of it if the voice found out he was still feeling bad about the whole meat thing.

\- Am I gonna have to stay up drinking tea again or are you going to shut up long enough so I can sleep? -

 _"Well, that really depends on you, but I think I'm gonna stick around for a bit longer"_  she grinned menacingly  _"It's hard to hurt you when there's others around after all. Getting you when you're alone seems the most effective."_

\- I'm not scared of you, you know. -

Tiredly, Yakko got out of bed, only pausing in the darkness to make sure Rose hadn't been woken up by his moving. Since all she did was turn over and continue softly snoring, he figured it was safe enough to open the door and sneak to the kitchen.

\- You're just... annoying. -

 _"Maybe you aren't scared of me, but I still don't make you feel good now do I?"_  she giggled, a shrill voice as he grabbed a mug from the cupboard  _"You can't ignore me, but you can't acknowledge me either. Doing that would mean you have to listen to what I have to say."_

\- I've already listened to you way too much in the past. I'm trying to do the opposite now. -

He put water in the mug and then stuck it in the microwave, hoping nobody would come see what he was doing. He'd really like to be alone for a bit... With a shake of his head, he rummaged around in the cupboard until he found the kind of tea he wanted, getting out a small Chamomile tea bag.

"Ah, hello there, my good old friend" he whispered to the tea bag like only a true insomniac could, getting his warm cup of water from the microwave and moving to sit down at the table "You truly are the best partner for sleepless nights like these."

_"I'm amazed you aren't in an institution at this point."_

\- And I'm amazed that you haven't gotten new material by now. -

He dunked his tea bag into the water calmly, his chin rested on one hand as his elbow rested on the table. His eyes watered, but he knew he wouldn't get to sleep until the girl got bored of insulting him. It took too much concentration to ignore the things she said, took too much effort to pretend none of it bothered him. If he failed he'd be up all night.

The girl, rather than deflate, perked up at his returned insult, giggling  _"Says the one who almost crumbled because of my 'old material' the other day. Don't kid yourself, you were about to cry like the stupid baby you are"_  he gripped his mug tighter. Her laughing subsided, but her tone of voice still revealed some amusement  _"Besides, you know that the more memories you get, the more material I will have."_

\- ... You just surprised me. It'd been a while since... since I felt that bad. It won't happen again. -

With shaking hands he brought the cup to his lips, sipping at the supposedly calming liquid. It never really relaxed him, but it did make him sleepy, so he kept drinking it. He was glad he'd asked Rose for permission to buy a shitton of boxes; with the way things were going he was unsure of how many sleepless nights he'd have.

\- As for the memories... I need to know what I'm forgetting. It looks too important. -

 _"Oh, okay, I understand"_  she rolled her eyes, and he could almost see her leaning against his table. His perception of reality must have been worse than he'd thought  _"You want more cannibalism in your life, just like any sane person."_

"Fuck!" he barely managed to stop himself from yelling, letting go of his mug so violently some of the liquid spilled onto the floor. His hands came up to cover his mouth, his breaths coming out shaky and fickle. Nausea filled him "I wanted to forget about that for at least a little while, you  _bitch_."

He could hear her guffawing like a hyena, no doubt pleased about having perturbed him and gotten him to swear at her so angrily. All he did was grab at his mug again and drink quicker. Maybe if he drank three cups in a row he'd put himself in a coma. He could hope it would at least.

 _"See? You can't handle it! Who knows what other kinds of things are inside that stupid noggin of yours? Soon you'll be drinking to forget and become a raging alcoholic nobody wants to be around"_  then, she smiled cheekily  _"Well. Not that anyone wants to be around you **now**  either."_

He grit his teeth, drinking a little more.

\- You always say that. -

_"I only say it 'cause it's true."_

He'd already drank his whole cup and nothing had been accomplished, so he got up and put more water in the microwave to make himself some more tea. It didn't seem like that'd be enough this time however, so he looked around the living room until he found some paper and a pen, perfect for what he had planned.

He sighed as he put the implements down, getting the mug of warm water and putting another tea bag in. If tea wasn't working, maybe some cathartic drawing would enhance the relaxing properties of the drink. It'd gotten him through far worse nights after all.

_"Oh great, you're going to do your stupid doodling again. You know you suck at it, right? Drawing just isn't your forte. Nothing is, because you can't do anything right. Might as well give up."_

\- I don't need to be good at it, I just have to like doing it. -

That shut her up. At least he had a foolproof way of beating her when it came to his art, because he wasn't too mad about not being perfect at it. Other things though... She could really get under his skin with the right insults.

It took him shaking his head and drinking some more tea for him to feel ready to even pick up the pen, but when he did he just started drawing. His head wasn't even really in it, his hand just moved and he stared at the page as the drawing was being made.

He burned the first drawing. His head had still been unable to let the scene in his flashback go and as such he'd ended up drawing horrifying closeups of mouths, teeth and ground meat. Blood, kids he only half-remembered, and the figures whose heads had been scratched out of his memory all ended up on the page. He didn't even want to look at it once it was finished despite the great detail he'd put in it, so he'd gotten a lighter, put the paper in the empty metal trash bin, and burnt it. It had actually made him feel a little better, so he resolved to allow himself to draw grisly scenes so long as he destroyed the evidence afterwards.

The second drawing he didn't like that much, but figured it was harmless enough, so he kept it. It was a scene that felt familiar to him, one where he sat under a tree and beautiful flowers fell on his head. There were forget-me-nots all around him and there was a house in the background, the sun shining softly on his face. For some reason the drawing made him feel very sad, and he wondered if it was because he was alone. It felt like someone was supposed to be there with him.

He wanted to frame the third drawing. He'd gone all out and tried his hand at drawing his siblings along with him, and it didn't come out half bad. There were mistakes but the drawing itself made his heart warm, and he would have added the voice as well if he could even think of how to portray him. Making him a shadowy figure behind Yakko seemed too sinister for his character, so he decided to just leave the voice out until he could think of something better. Maybe he'd come back to it at some point.

By then he'd almost finished his second cup and was almost as calm as he could be, letting out a yawn. Maybe he could go to sleep now.

_"That's a cute drawing. Too bad Wakko and Dot don't like you and will totally go to live with the prince now. So sad. You'll never see them again."_

Oh for Christ's-

No. He couldn't let her ruin his good mood, not when he was so close to blissful sleep. He had to ignore it, and maybe worry about that stuff the morning after.

\- ... You can think that if you want. I know my siblings love me, and the people around me care. -

He remained calm, only grumbling a little before putting his two drawings and the implements away. The girl bristled at the fact that he was so relaxed, frustrated at her inability to hurt him.

_"No they don't! Did you see how Rose was looking at you back at the butchery? She thinks you're a wimp! An idiot! A complete failure of a soldier!"_

Those kinds of insults were familiar territory at least, so he was able to slowly relax his shoulders with a lot of concentration. He could hear the girl rambling in the background, but the tea and cathartic drawing had done what they were supposed to and he could barely hear her anymore. He was too sleepy and his anxiety had gone with the wind.

He drank the last of his tea, hearing a garbled mess that was supposed to be the girl insulting him, and yet her voice was as floaty as his head. He couldn't even understand what she was talking about anymore.

Pleased about having won the night's fight, Yakko stood up slowly, sleepily, and put his mug in the sink. He took relaxed steps back to his and Rose's room, glanced at her sleeping form, and laid down in his bed again.

Maybe he'd be lucky and manage to get at least three hours of sleep...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: (Unknowing) Cannibalism, a character being told they're useless and not loved (it's basically bullying at this point), hallucinations, flashbacks, ... stealing?


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't much that should bother anyone this chapter, but if you have any triggers and are uncomfortable with talking about them you might want to check the warnings. Nothing too bad though, Yakko and Rose just have a long upsetting talk.

"So... You think he's the same as you?"

Rose paced in the living room of the base, trying not to let her thoughts get to her. Though, that was proving to be rather hard.

She'd woken up just like any other day and had set off to do exactly the same things she did every day - take a shower, wake Yakko up, demand he make some food before she bit his hand off, yada, yada, yada - but she'd realized mid-routine that she was far too concerned about what had happened the night before to allow this to be just another day. Nothing had really "happened", and yet she felt that the way Yakko had completely spaced out with a blank expression was not something she should ignore.

It was not too far fetched to think that memories of his childhood were returning to him. After all, just because he could no longer access them didn't mean that they weren't still there; she was all too aware of this, considering she herself had some parts of her memory that were inaccessible to her. The reason for her own memory loss was PTSD, but who was to say that Yakko couldn't have something similar? Yes, he'd lost most of his past due to an accident rather than a traumatic event, but there were... signs. He was jumpy, distrustful, had frequent nightmares...  _Something_  had happened to him, that was for sure.

Rose couldn't presume that she knew where the trauma came from. Hell, maybe it hadn't even been in his forgotten past; maybe something had happened with the humans, or maybe the event of him and his only family running for their lives was the actual reason for his behavior. It wouldn't be strange, living through such a thing would probably hit anyone quite hard.

Still, the point was that the way he'd frozen in place and just stared at cuts of meat hanging from the ceiling, ignoring her calling him multiple times, was not normal. She'd heard her sisters tell her about her own episodes enough to be fairly certain that he had been in the middle of a flashback... though she wasn't sure how meat could possibly be a trigger. It sort of scared her, in a way; made her wonder if everyday objects or food could actually be triggers, since she had always been triggered by specific things.

More than that though, it made her worry about Yakko's health. They didn't know what could be a possible trigger, and being constantly in danger would certainly only make things worse. They could be sneaking around or having to run from someone, and if either she or Yakko were triggered by something they could get caught or potentially killed. It was dangerous, even for her, who actually knew what most of her triggers were.

"I'm not sure" she attempted to answer StarDust, who was currently sitting down calmly on the sofa beside Marilyn while Rose continued to walk in circles "What I mean is that it's  _possible_  that he has PTSD and that I'm worried."

"You dealt with it pretty alright, why should we be more worried about him?" Marilyn, with a risen brow, asked.

"It's not exactly the same thing, sis. We have no idea what could possibly trigger him, and honestly, that's pretty dangerous with the kind of things we do" Rose understood that from her point of view it seemed far too similar to view it as a problem, but the fact of the matter was that even her sisters were aware of what they should keep her away from. In Yakko's case, none of them had any idea what to look out for.

"Okay, so you mean to say we can't prevent it from happening and that it could happen at a time where it would be dangerous" when Rose nodded, her expression worried, Marilyn continued, mildly confused "So if we can't prevent it what are we supposed to do about it?"

"I don't know! Keep a close eye on him… or something" trying to pull her hair off her skull was probably not a good idea, but Rose was so frustrated that simply running her hands through it was not enough "I'm just glad it came and went quickly last night and without any problems, but... Yakko wasn't okay. I could tell."

"Isn't he more of a liability than an asset this way?" StarDust wondered out loud, frowning "If we can't fix this we might have to leave him behind."

"Star! That's so cold!" Rose complained, looking at her with what resembled betrayal "Would you have left me behind too? Our situations aren't that different."

The oldest didn't seem phased by her reaction. In fact, she looked like she would have liked the idea "That way you would have been safe from harm."

For a moment, Rose didn't reply. She knew StarDust had gotten extremely protective over her since… Well, since they'd been old enough for Robert to decide that he wouldn't feel guilt over kicking them in the stomach a few times.

Rose knew that, realistically, it was extremely stupid of her to choose fighting people who could punch and kick her as a profession when she'd been the one who had taken most of their "father's" (and she used this term even more loosely than "mother" and "home") physical abuse. She was constantly in danger of being triggered by an opponent's move-set, and even worse, if she was stuck in a flashback while fighting, she was pretty much incapacitated.

However, there was a certain thing that separated what was happening in the present with what had happened in her memories. Now she could  _fight back_.

When she'd been little, it had been useless to try and run, punch back, talk back, or even try to call for help. The only way to escape Robert's wrath had been to do everything he wanted and if he still decided to beat her, to stay still and take it. There was no way for her to try and defend herself, because a child against an adult that was triple her size and weight was an automatic loss. Now she was older, and she'd trained her body in order to beat down the people who tried to make her submit through violence.

It could still happen, really. All anyone had to do in order to terrify her and send her into a flashback was put her in a position where she was absolutely helpless. If her attacks weren't leaving a scratch on her opponent, if she was injured and couldn't properly fight, chances were she'd already gone into flashback and was trying to sit still and take the attacks with very few chances of winning. The only time she'd really managed to injure Robert had been the last time she'd seen him alive after all, and she'd had help.

The point was that yes, it could happen, but Rose took that risk for the people of WarnerStock. She took that risk for the sake of everyone she cared about. They needed a leader, and though she could sit back and let everyone else act, her sisters would have lost their best fighter. That wasn't something they could afford with how few they were. If they also took Yakko out of the equation, they were left with little to no offense. It just wasn't possible.

Because of this, she'd always told StarDust she'd fight, and her sister had been quite upset by it considering all the dangers. Still, she was a practical kind of person, and she'd agreed with her in the end, though not without reluctance.

So, in response, Rose merely stared at her. Simply because this was a matter that didn't need further discussion.

At this, StarDust sighed "Fine, I wouldn't have, but you are aware that this is much more dangerous than your situation, aren't you?"

"Of course I am, otherwise I wouldn't have said anything in the first place" Rose rolled her eyes "But we can't leave him behind. He'd never accept the idea of being safe in here while Wakko and Dot are in danger with us."

"Yeah... I don't think there's anything we can do, really" Marilyn shrugged, looking completely lost "You should go talk to him, see if he even knows what's going on. All we can really offer right now is guidance, right?"

It didn't satisfy her, but Rose nodded regardless. They couldn't afford to send him to a psychologist when neither of the three Warners had any real IDs. They might be able to fool the Pass Watchers when they went on the train, but they couldn't flash the fake cards around regularly. Someone was bound to catch on that way.

She left her sisters on the couch with a frown on her face still, intent on talking things over with Yakko as soon as possible. Was talking about it really the only thing she could do to help? It just didn't seem like enough... Most things she did didn't seem like enough.

With a sigh she reached the bedroom. As she opened the door she expected Yakko to still be sleeping, or at the very least  _trying_  to continue sleeping. Instead, she spotted him not only awake but standing up in front of one of the walls of their bedroom. He was looking at it with a thoughtful look, occasionally touching it with his palm and frowning slightly. She found this incredibly odd, so Rose coughed once to get his attention. She wasn't shocked when he jumped in surprise and immediately turned to look at her.

"… What are you doing?"

"I was, uh, kind of…" he stuttered for a moment, but quickly regained his composure and sent her a sheepish look "This is going to sound weird, but I was kind of... inspecting it?"

That  _was_  weird, but who was she to judge. Now that she knew what he was doing, she was only more curious to know the  _why_.

"What, searching for any secret passages?" she smiled playfully, walking over to stand next to him and admire the white structure as well. Yup. That sure was a wall "Not to disappoint you or anything, but there aren't any."

Yakko just sent her a deadpan look, completely unamused by her banter "That's not it. I was just wondering if looking at it more closely would… I don't know, tell me why it bothers me so much."

Rose paused for a moment, processing.

"Walls… bother you?"

He, in turn, shook his head, looking sort of exasperated "No,  _white walls_  bother me. Just… walls that are white, not walls in general. I don't get it either, so don't ask."

White walls bothered him? That was pretty specific. Then again, he'd seemed quite bothered about the butcher's even before his apparent flashback, hadn't he?

… Wait.

"You mean the same way meat makes you uncomfortable?"

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and Yakko's uneasy expression was evidence enough that she'd screwed that up. She'd been so enthusiastic about the realization that she hadn't even bothered thinking that this was something she should be tactful about.

Still, he answered.

"I… Yeah, sort of. It's not like I was subtle about it" he laughed humorlessly, scratching the back of his neck. His expression was still bothered.

Rose found herself with two conflicting wants. On one hand, she wanted to leave the matter alone. Yakko was clearly uncomfortable talking about it and Rose didn't think that they were quite close enough for her to push this much and not have it explode in her face. Not yet.

On the other hand... it would probably only get worse the longer she didn't pry. This was a chance for her to learn more about the things that made Yakko upset, things that probably had to do with his nightmares, his trauma. If she actually got him to talk then she would be able to help him better, and they would probably grow closer as a result. Dangerous as she found it, Rose wanted to be Yakko's friend just as much as she wanted to help him. So, she pushed, but tried to be gentle about it.

"Are there any other things that make you uncomfortable?" she spoke in a light tone, walking over towards her bed so she could sit on it "I kind of need to know, in case you happen to freak out like you did last night."

It didn't surprise her much when she saw Yakko immediately raising his metaphorical talons, mouth a breath away from a grimace. His tail bushed up a little, his shoulders tense. He may have allowed her to pry a bit, but this was clearly a little farther than he was willing to go. Rose figured that if she wanted him to talk, she had to put him at ease first.

"I won't make it into a big deal if you don't" she explained, patting the spot next to her on the bed so he knew he was allowed to sit there. He eyed her distrustfully "I'm also not going to make fun of you or anything like that, promise. This is more for your safety than anything else."

It took a bit, but after staring at each other for a few moments Rose saw Yakko slowly relax. His hands came up to hug himself loosely, as if still unsure, scared. Regardless of any misgivings he may have still had though, Yakko walked over to her. He pointedly ignored the spot next to her and sat down on his own mattress, shifting uneasily.

She was a little sad he'd refused to sit beside her, but still gave him a patient smile "Before you say anything... I wanted to ask you something. You were in the middle of a flashback last night, weren't you?"

The room was silent. Yakko was looking to the side, seeming to fight a small battle inside himself about whether or not he should answer her truthfully. She eyed the way he clenched and unclenched his gloved hands, the way his ears twitched in distress.

"If you could tell what it was…" he finally spoke quietly, sliding his eyes toward her questioningly. There was wariness in them "Do you get them too? Or one of your sisters? You could tell just by looking at it, so…"

"I do" she admitted, and this time she was the one avoiding his gaze, looking down at her hands. An eye for an eye, information for information. She had a feeling knowing that she was in the same boat as him would help Yakko calm down "When I said our situations were similar I was kind of expecting this too…"

"Huh" he muttered. He seemed to think about what that might mean for a moment, frowning down at his lap. It only took him a few seconds before he was looking at her with slight concern "Are yours really bad? ... Mine seem to be, so far at least."

Score! He was willingly telling her info, and all she'd had to do was offer some back. It really was a give and take with him, what with his extremely curious nature.

Still, by doing this she'd basically told him he could pry into her own history, or as much as she could remember of it anyway. If she wanted him to speak she'd have to open up to him first... Was she prepared to give him this information? Talking about it might be good for her, and she'd never been terribly comfortable discussing it with her sisters when they couldn't exactly understand anyway, but... It was still a very sensitive topic.

She couldn't stop her uncomfortable fidgeting when she finally replied, her voice soft and a little wobbly. She couldn't look him in the eye "... They're pretty bad. Feeling helpless against violence is one of my biggest triggers, but also…" she sighed, knowing that saying any more would pretty much reveal her whole backstory to Yakko. She encouraged herself to speak by reminding herself that if she gave more, she would also receive more "Belts. If they're in someone else's hands."

She didn't even need to look at him to tell that his entire thought process had come to a halt at her words; his grunt of shock and discomfort said enough. Not only had he not been expecting that, but it had elicited a strong emotional response as well.

"... Oh."

That was all he said for a good while, seeming to need a moment to absorb what he'd just been told. It was long enough that Rose was able to push herself into looking at him again, and the anger, the indignation she saw in his eyes was... somewhat flattering. To know that he cared so much about her, enough that he was outright furious to hear someone had hurt her like that. It made their bond seem stronger than she'd originally thought it was.

"So," he then muttered in a bit of a growl. Rose was a bit surprised to see that most of the fur on his body had startled to bristle in agitation "That's what you meant by your father being an asshole. I get it."

She blinked a few times at him, somewhat surprised by the cursing that she didn't often hear coming from his mouth. She understood him being angry because she was his friend and she'd gotten hurt, but... The way he was acting, it almost felt like he was personally offended by what had happened to her. Was she supposed to take that as a clue to his past? Shit, she hoped he hadn't had to go through half the shit she had. When she continued speaking it was with a subdued tone, upset.

"... Yeah. That's why. He... Well, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, he made our lives a living hell."

At first she was planning on continuing, maybe forcing out a few details just to get him to talk more- instead, he surprised her again by speaking first.

"Two days ago you said the reason you were so easily irritable was because it was his death anniversary, but the reason you were upset wasn't the fact that he'd died exactly" he started, serious. She almost interrupted to say those hadn't been the words she'd used. Thought to maybe say  _"excuse you I was not being easily irritable, you were just being a stubborn little shit"_ , but then he continued, shoulders hunching "I feel like I have to ask. Is it because... Because you...?"

Oh, of course he would come to that conclusion. Rose couldn't help but smile wryly at that "What, you think I killed him? Athena was desperate to pin the blame on me from the start too."

She expected him to rush in with an apology, to say that wasn't what he'd been implying. Instead, all she got was him turning his head a little to stare at her, and she only felt more bewildered by how odd he was acting. Could it be because of that flashback he'd gotten? ... Maybe he was still messed up about it.

Regardless, he didn't look upset, or blaming. Just tense. It made her sigh and continue "No, it wasn't me. That, I'm sure of."

She fidgeted a little in place, nervous about admitting to all of this. But she knew Yakko wouldn't use the information in ways that could hurt her "I may have... helped a little, but I wasn't the one who killed the bastard. Hell, I sorta wish I had been. No, from how my blurry memory of the event goes I'd say it was my friend who did it. She... She must've taken him by surprise. She was so small, so fragile, she... She couldn't have won otherwise."

Rose could feel the tears gathering as she thought about her friend, about how much the girl had risked to protect her. As much as the memory upset her, the most emotional pain stemmed from knowing that even with how much she'd fought, Rose still hadn't been able to save her in the end. She'd only been able to prolong her life for a little more time.

"It was self-defense, of course!" she hurried to add, not wanting Yakko to get the wrong idea about her friend. Her voice had started to quiver, and her body to shake.  _Damn it, she should be stronger than this_  "He was- he was hurting me, so she- d-did the only thing she could think of, you know?"

Even cold as he was being, she could still see the worry in his eyes as she fought to keep herself together. With a gulp, then closing her eyes tightly as she hissed, Rose continued "She did what she had to, to protect me. I- I would've done the same for her, I would've done the same a hundred times over for her. And yet still,  _still_  she-!"

And suddenly there were arms around her, pushing her gently onto a soft chest. Her eyes immediately opened in surprise; when had Yakko switched beds? But it didn't matter when she felt the tears begin to slip down her face, feeling him holding her a little tighter the moment one fell and landed on the fur of his arm.

It wasn't a crushing hug. It wasn't even that tight, she felt like she could slip out of it at any time if she so wished to. Instead, she turned gently in his hold so she could look up at him. She could see remorse in his expression, sadness and a tiny bit of pity. She could tell he wanted to say something, but for a while he just stayed quiet... and Rose basked in it, slowly laying her head on his shoulder to see if that would be going too far. He tensed for a few short seconds, but then relaxed and appeared to allow it.

"I'm…" Yakko finally spoke after what felt like an eternity, letting out a soft sigh and withdrawing from the hug slowly. She wished he would have waited a little longer, he was so comfy... "I'm sorry, Rose. You don't have to say any more. I shouldn't have pushed you so hard."

He sounded especially upset at himself, and that wasn't something she could let happen when they were both talking about things that were obviously upsetting in an attempt to understand and help each other. It wasn't going to be a bed of roses, not when talking about such heavy topics.

"It- It's fine, really" she let go of him as she dried her tears, but she did so reluctantly. He really had been comfortable and it wasn't every day that she allowed herself to get that emotional; her sisters had always had issues with trying to get her to open up, but Yakko was just so disarming. Even when he was distant, she knew he would come comfort her if needed "You don't need to apologize. If I really hadn't wanted to talk about it I wouldn't have, okay? It's not a big deal."

"I think it  _is_  a big deal if you ended up in tears because of it" he huffed, but still seemed mostly mad at himself. As if to officially end the moment, he also scooted a little so he was no longer super close to her. She immediately began to miss how warm he was "But anyway... It's my time to talk, isn't it?"

The words surprised her a little, but she had expected him to end up reciprocating eventually. She'd just thought it would take a little more to get the info out of him, that she might have to give him some time. A few days even. To have him just up and talk made her feel like speaking about herself had been more than just "her end of the deal" for him. Like maybe he trusted her a little more after that.

If that was the case... Well, how could she not be happy about it?

He took a bit, but after a few moments it seemed like he'd gathered enough courage to speak "I'll, uh, warn you now that most of the things that 'upset' me are pretty stupid" she instantly opened her mouth to correct him, but he held up a hand to stop her, looking a little annoyed "I know, I know, I shouldn't call them stupid. They just feel like that because they're so random. I mean, I guess there are  _reasons_  why they bother me, but... Since I don't remember those reasons it feels pretty dumb to be stressed out over being surrounded by white walls. So, uh... please don't laugh?"

He tapped his foot against the floor rapidly as he spoke, and Rose was now almost convinced that Yakko had been anxious from before they'd even started having this conversation. Clearly what had happened the night before had bothered him enough for him to still be worried about it, to still be  _upset_  about it. It was no wonder he'd been so frigid with her when he was usually, even if not completely warm and receptive, at least fairly friendly with her.

"I'll say it as many times as you need me to, Yakko" she sent him a small smile, an understanding one "I promise I won't laugh at you."

Apparently that had been enough, because she saw his shoulders lose some of their tension and he stopped moving restlessly. He didn't outwardly thank her for it, but it was clear from the expression on his face that her consideration was appreciated. It took another sigh before he began talking though, and his words came out stilted and awkward, as if he had to force every word out.

"Like I said before… White walls, red meat- well, red in general. Pointy objects, especially syringes. Blood. I practically never take off my gloves because the sight of my hands without them is upsetting somehow. I don't like jewelry for some reason; necklaces feel like they're choking me and bracelets make me feel claustrophobic."

As Yakko kept listing off things, Rose had to admit that some of his fears were pretty bizarre, but as she'd promised, she didn't laugh and she didn't judge him for any of it. She was convinced there were reasons for these things, though several of them could make perfect sense in situations that she really hoped Yakko hadn't been in. She particularly found his aversion to jewelry to be kind of concerning.

"Loud noises stress me out. And, uh, this isn't even a fear at all but... pierced ears make me kind of uncomfortable."

Rose almost laughed at that one, but it would have been a laugh of surprise "I hear ya! Who the hell would pierce their ears anyway? They'd have to be seriously masochistic" she'd have figured most warners would find piercings weird, especially around the ears. They were  _way_  too sensitive, that would hurt like hell.

Surprisingly Yakko's list of uncomfortable things was pretty scarce. When she mentioned this Yakko merely shrugged and explained that these were just the ones he  _knew_  could be potentially triggering. With his amnesia, there was the chance that there were more he just hadn't had a chance to encounter.

"Hm, I guess that's true" she mused, thoughtful "These are all things you must have encountered fairly easily in your day-to-day life after all. Red meat in meals, syringes and pointy objects during doctor appointments, white walls, which are everywhere-" she paused. Suddenly something occurred to her, and she gasped out her next words, sending him an almost accusing look "Wait-  _That's_  why you asked me to change the color of the walls?"

He jumped a little at that, immediately looking down at his lap and looking too much like a kicked puppy for her tastes. She practically stared him down in return.

She'd been so confused the first time he'd brought it up, declining merely because it had felt unnecessary. If he had just explained she would have been more than happy to paint the walls herself, especially if he had told her how serious it was. It was a little saddening, therefore, that he had opted for shutting up and bearing it rather than talking to her. It was a blatant show of how little he truly trusted her.

The thought made her frown sadly, sighing "You could have just told me it was a serious problem for you."

"I..." he began, making himself smaller in his seat. His expression was almost despondent as he spoke quietly "I told you, I thought you were just gonna laugh at me. Besides, we weren't exactly the best of friends back then."

It probably hadn't been his intention, but Rose still perked up at his words. So they were the best of friends  _now_? Wasn't that what he was saying? Unsure but still happy, she had to cough a little to lose the light color that had come to her cheeks.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. As you can see, I'm not laughing" her voice then took a softer tone, and she poked his shoulder until he looked up at her again. The moment he did, she made sure to send a reassuring smile his way "You can be honest with me. Hell, you can be honest with all of us. No one here is going to laugh in the face of someone else's issues. We're really not that kind of people."

She had hoped her words would calm him down some but instead he only looked more anxious, bringing his arms up to hug himself lightly "I know you're not. I  _know_  that, but..." he sighed lightly, looking to the side and avoiding her gaze "Somehow there's always a part of me that's waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? Waiting to be proved wrong, to be betrayed."

She watched as his eyes saddened. She could almost feel her own heart hurt for him, aching to reassure him. To hug him, make him feel safe. But she knew... he wouldn't appreciate that right then. He was too fidgety still, too hurt. He was like a wounded animal, hissing at anyone that got too close. At this point he was only allowing her to look at the wound, trying to actually cure it would just make him scurry away again. She needed to wait until he let her get closer, until he trusted enough to let her bandage the wound. Until he was ready to let it heal.

"It's kind of funny, but I'm at my worst when I can finally relax and 'be happy'" his brow furrowed in frustration, clicking his tongue once "It's like when I finally get to a point where I don't have to fight to survive I just... fall apart."

God, it almost felt like he was describing  _her_.

"... I understand that feeling too well. It's the worst" daringly, she scooted a little closer to him. She felt a warmth in her chest when he didn't move away, only turned slightly to fix his eyes on her "But it makes sense, doesn't it? You have to bury all your hurt and anger when you're in danger, it's our brains' way of keeping us in optimal condition to deal with life-threatening situations. Or... well, sometimes what we  _consider to be_  life-threatening situations."

"It does make sense" he scoffed after saying that, frowning down at his hands again "But it still sucks."

There was a brief period of silence, as if they were both reminiscing about a time in their life where they'd had to deal with such a situation. It was a sad silence, but Rose couldn't regret bringing this whole discussion up. It felt like this would make them stronger. Sharing their experiences like this, eventually allowing each other to treat the wounds and allow them to scar... It would help both of them in the long run. She knew it would.

"... Say," Yakko interrupted the quiet after a while, making her look up at him in slight surprise "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but..."

He fidgeted a little in place, looking around the room as if expecting to hear someone object to what he was about to ask. As if he felt like someone invisible could try to stop him at any moment. It seemed like he had to gather some courage, because he inhaled slowly and exhaled harshly before finally asking.

"I... I would like to know more about your friend. About the book" he paused to look around the room anxiously again "I'm kind of curious, but, like I said, you don't have to if you don't wanna-"

"I'd love to."

She smiled at him, glad that having seen her crying hadn't made him shy away from the topic. There was a high chance that she would get emotional again, but she still wanted to talk about it. To talk about her. Remembering her with fondness made Rose feel like she was still there with her, if only in spirit. She didn't want to forget, to pretend like it'd never happened, just because it hurt to think about the girl's eventual demise. She had many happy memories of her she liked to revisit after all, even if she couldn't remember a lot of details.

He seemed incredibly relieved at how readily she'd accepted, finally looking a little more at ease and smiling back at her. With only a brief pause of hesitation, Rose quickly shuffled on the bed over to her nightstand, opening the drawer. Then, she took out the book that she'd been safely keeping there the last few days. Her friend's diary.

"Since I'm going to be talking about my friend, I figured it was a good time to, uh... bring this up" she took a breath as she settled back into her seat next to Yakko, caressing the spine of the book. She began, bringing the diary forth so he could see what it was clearly. Yakko's eyes lit up in recognition when they fell on the cover "When you first brought it back to me, I told you I was too much of a coward to read it, but it's been a long time since I've wanted it back in my hands and... I've realized that I can't  _not_  read it either. Even though I'm scared of what I'll find inside... I feel like I have to."

"So... You want to read it together?" his eyes shone with curiosity, but he remained stubbornly in place, not even attempting to look at the book more closely.

She smiled at him, but it was a little uncomfortable "Um, I dunno if I should let you look at it... No offense, it's just-" she sighed, hugging it to herself "It's really personal. I was more thinking you could... stick around while I read it? And I'll maybe read a few passages aloud, talk about some good memories I have with her..."

Yakko looked a bit disappointed, but nodded regardless.

"That's fine. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want me to know... It's none of my business anyway."

* * *

That was how they both ended up lying down on their own beds while Rose kept the diary in the air, facing her. She was staring at the page with the words "My Diary" on them, and she did that for what felt like at least fifteen minutes until finally, she spoke.

"I don't know how far in I can go in one sitting. I don't know what kinds of things she might have written about..."

"That's fine," he answered softly. He might not be able to read it with her, but he could still be there for emotional support, right? "I don't think your friend would mind."

That might have been the wrong thing to say because Rose's eyes immediately started watering, but she stubbornly rubbed the back of her gloved hand against her eyes and stared at the book with a mighty frown. Yakko just hoped she wouldn't cry again, he... He really didn't like seeing her cry. It hurt.

"Okay…." she spoke quietly to herself, holding the next page between her fingertips "It'll be just like ripping off a Band-Aid, Rose… Just be quick and it won't hurt…"

He kind of wanted to tell her that just turning the page wouldn't make the words be read by her any faster, but he felt that saying that would only make things worse, so he didn't talk. He just kept an eye on her and hoped that whatever her friend had written in that diary wasn't so horrific that it would scar Rose.

When she finally got the courage to turn the page, there was a moment of silence between them. Rose didn't start reading aloud yet, but he was hoping she would at some point. He'd gotten  _insanely_  lucky with Rose's timing of when she'd chosen to have this particular conversation; the voice had been groggy since Yakko had woken up and had complained about being so tired he was about to pass out. It had resulted in him doing the equivalent of rolling over onto the other side of the bed and going back to sleep, meaning Yakko had no voice to tell him not to do things that were considered "dangerous".

It was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

Gradually, Rose's furrowed eyebrows began to go back to being relaxed. Actually, they'd started rising in surprise.

"This is… terribly concise" she said after a while, blinking at the page she had just read "Somehow I felt she would have written a bit more, even if it's just the first entry."

"Hm? Concise? How?" he knew she hadn't actually allowed him to read it, but it didn't mean he couldn't ask for details. Right?

"I mean, her sentences are really choppy" Rose confusedly turned the diary in her hands, staring at the text with squinted eyes "There's no real information here either. Literally all she wrote is: 'There was a lot of noise this morning, so I got woken up. I ate bread again today. I drew flowers on the wall. Yesterday I saw what my friend called a'..."

At that moment, Rose stopped suddenly and chuckled softly, as if whatever was written next was endearing "Ah, right, I remember now. This was back when I'd just started teaching her how to write" her laugh turned almost sad "She spelled "butterfly" wrong."

Rose had taught her friend how to write? That was interesting, had she taught her other things? Then again, Rose had been really young at the time, she probably had  _tried_  to teach her friend things rather than actually being able to do so. His curiosity was far too intrusive for such an upsetting topic, so he shut up and managed to stay quiet, thankfully. It was shocking to him when, instead of putting the diary away now that she'd read a page, Rose turned it slowly and bit her lip as she stared at the next entry. He wanted to ask her if she really wanted to do that, but her decided expression told him all he needed to know. Guess she figured she needed to read something upsetting before she decided she was done for the day.

She only took a minute or two to read the next entry, smiling as she went to read it aloud again for his benefit "Aw, she really was such a cutie... 'Today I went outside with my friend and we sat down under a tree. There were a lot of flowers there, she said we should make 'flower crowns'. Mine wasn't very good, but she still smiled when I gave it to her. I don't know how to spell her name yet, but I'm trying to learn quickly so I can show her. I hope she will be happy.'"

Somehow a pang of emotion rushed through him as Rose read the entry, immediately feeling touched. 'I hope she will be happy'... He could relate. He hoped Rose could gain real happiness soon. He wished he could get closer, but something still held him back, made him wary. He knew it wasn't her, she hadn't done anything wrong and their initial impressions of each other had scattered in the wind now that they properly knew one another. It was just... Somehow, he felt like getting closer would get her hurt in the end. Like  _he_  would hurt her. He didn't know what this feeling meant, but it was the reason he was still keeping her at an arm's length. Or, well, at an elbow's length. He  _had_  let her get closer after all, just not  _too_  close.

"She did actually manage to spell my name right after a lot of attempts. I remember" Rose suddenly spoke up as she stared at the page she'd already read, a big smile still on her face "She'd looked so proud of having accomplished it, she gave me a grin. She didn't use to smile very much, so it felt magical" she let out a soft sigh of happiness, slowly turning the page "It always felt magical when she smiled."

He almost felt like he should comment, but Rose's silence felt like she wasn't looking for opinions, that she was only relaying what she thought for the sake of getting it out there. It helped Yakko understand her better, but it was mostly so she could get it out of her system. He understood and was glad that he could help her even just by listening, remaining quiet.

It shouldn't have surprised him, but after another period of silence while Rose read, her eyes began to water again. She gripped the diary tighter, and when it seemed she'd read the last line, closed it violently.

He didn't bother asking what was wrong when she gripped the book to her chest and took deep breaths, clearly trying to calm herself, but he did voice his concern.

"Are you okay?" was all he said, quietly, holding out a hand as if to touch her, but she was too far away.

"I'm… I'm fine" her voice cracked and she let go of the diary, which fell to the floor, to press her hands against her eyes "I-I'm f-f-fine."

His eyes slid over to where the book was lying, slowly getting up and walking over to where it'd fallen. It would be extremely easy to just pick it up, open the cover, and read whatever had upset Rose to the point of tears. In fact, he did pick it up, and didn't bother making an innocent face when Rose immediately turned her teary-eyes over to him and stared into his own.

She made no move to stop him. She just laid there, staring at him. It made him wonder if this was a test of sorts; a test for her trust.

He could, realistically, do it. Rose would probably get seriously mad and so would the voice once he woke up, but he could do it. He'd been curious about what was in this diary since it had first been given to him- no, even before that, when Rose had expressed an anxious need to have it back. When the voice had freaked out about Yakko reading it, not only when he'd first gotten it but again when they had fought, he knew he wouldn't be able to rest easy without knowing what was so awful about this thing. He just felt like this book... This book had answers. He didn't know what kind of answers, but he knew it was important and that he  _had_  to know what was in it.

However, he'd had no intention of reading it in the first place. Why would he ignore his thirst for knowledge that was so strong it was enough to drive him insane? Because he trusted them. He trusted Rose's and the voice's judgment, and if they felt he shouldn't read it, well, he wouldn't read it...

Not yet.

All he did was open the drawer on Rose's nightstand and let the book fall out of his hands and onto the wood, sliding it closed a second later. Rose let out an audible breath as he walked back over to his bed and sat down.

"There. Now it can't hurt you" he spoke with an exaggeratedly serious face, puffing out his chest as if he'd just slain a dragon. His profession for a long while had been to make people laugh, and he'd be damned if he couldn't at least get a chuckle out of a mourning Rose. He at least wanted to clear the air a little.

Her sudden laugh was high and squeaky, probably a side-effect from her crying, but it sounded happy all the same "Oh, my hero. Thank you for putting the monster away."

"Anytime, princess" he then leaned forward, stared at her with a serious expression, and whispered "Anytime."

There was only a brief moment of silence before she burst out in laughter and rolled around on her bed, wheezing "Fuck! You're so lame! … But at least I'm not sad anymore."

"Like I said," he laughed with her, his expression now soft and understanding "Anytime."

Rose, rolling over in her bed to face him, hummed thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes at him. Then, as if remembering something, she smiled at him. It was sad, but it was a smile nonetheless "You know... You actually remind me a lot of her."

He jumped a little in surprise. Should he feel flattered…?

"Really? How so?"

"Well…" she rolled over again, now lying on her stomach, and looked at him curiously, not for the first time, like she was trying to understand his way of thinking "Just the way you want to know everything. You don't usually keep your doubts to yourself, even if it's probably inappropriate to ask. You voice them, so that you can get answers."

"You love knowledge, don't you?"

Yakko didn't even need to think about the answer to that question. He loved learning, but honestly, he hated being in the dark more. He hated not knowing things more than anything in the world; there was just so much knowledge to attain! And… he hated to admit it, but most of the reason why he wanted to know so much was because he was missing an important chunk of his memories. It meant he'd lost the most important kind of knowledge: experience. It frustrated him to no end.

"Yeah," he answered a bit begrudgingly after a while, feeling a bit put down by his own thoughts "I love learning."

Rose didn't bother pointing out his slightly depressed attitude. Instead, she tried to continue the light subject of conversation, even as a dark cloud of sadness hung around them both.

"She loved learning too. At first she didn't much care for it, but when I first showed her a book she went nuts over it" she laughed, as if recalling the exact moment in her memories. Her eyes practically sparkled. Yakko got the impression that Rose hadn't just cared for that girl as any other friend "She begged me to bring her more, and… That's kind of why I gave her this diary. Well, that and because I wanted her to practice her writing."

It was okay to ask now, right? Rose had practically invited him to do so several times.

He decided to take the risk "Were you her personal teacher or something?"

Instead of getting upset, she laughed "Well, something like that. I took up the position on my own, and it's not like I knew much of anything, considering my own education was pretty limited. That and I was a child. I don't know if I ever told you, but we used to be pretty poor, my sisters and I."

"Really?" this surprised him, considering that they were princesses now and probably the wealthiest individuals in all of WarnerStock.

"Oh yeah," Rose nodded, giving him a wry smile. He wondered if it bothered her "We were farmer kids. When you're that low in the hierarchy you're lucky to know the alphabet and basic math, but Athena was generous enough to get us books every now and then. It was really the only way we were able to learn more important things."

As if her previous position was uncomfortable, she turned around once again, sitting down on her bed and kicking her legs in a childish display that went with the memories she was telling him about "We sort of learned together, she and I. I used to take books over to her and we'd read them together, but even though I had the tools to learn, I wasn't very good at understanding the text; that's where she was better than me. So I brought the book and explained what I knew, and then we'd read it together and she'd tell me what she got out of it. It was a sort of exchange."

"… Huh."

The more he heard about this girl, the more he felt that she and Rose had had more than just a simple friendship; it sounded like they 'd had a companionship so strong that her death had affected Rose as much as the death of a sister, or even a daughter would have. The blonde sounded incredibly protective of her, and probably didn't want him to read the diary simply because she wanted to keep most of the memories of her to herself. Because they were just that important to her.

"… You really loved her, didn't you?"

Rose froze.

For a few moments, there was a tense silence, and he half expected her to yell at him, half expected her to deny his accusations as if he'd asked her if her friend had been more than just a friend to her. If Rose had had romantic feelings for her. He himself didn't really know in which way he had meant it.

Instead, she began trembling.

"… Yeah" she finally croaked out, her eyes once again full of tears. This time, she didn't fight them, and he saw how they slipped down her cheeks before she hid her face in her hands "Yeah… I did love her. I admired her, I cherished her. She was… my most important person-"

A sob cut her off, and once she'd started she couldn't stop. He hadn't meant to upset her, but he felt like maybe it was time that she get the chance to let the feelings out properly. It was high time that she allow herself to cry without restraint, to scream and screech, to yell about how unfair the world was. So instead of trying to get her to stop crying, he just silently stood up from his bed, walked the two steps to Rose's own, and sat down next to her.

He didn't flinch when she threw herself at him. He didn't flinch when she hugged him like a life-sized teddy bear, or when he ended up pinned down on his back by her weight. When he slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her, hearing her sobs and letting her tears soak into his shirt, he knew he'd made the right choice.

Whatever happened down the road, even if they ended up hurting each other in the end... He'd cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, he'd be there for her. He'd be her friend and her pillar.

He'd protect the people he cared about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Talking about triggers, talking about child abuse, talking about death and the deceased.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a pretty heavy part, might want to check the warnings out. I've done worse already though.
> 
> Warnings at the end notes.

"... What exactly is he doing here, again?"

Yakko couldn't help it, he was annoyed. Despite the fact that the prince had been relatively amicable after the whole misunderstanding had been put straight, the guy was still trying to take his family away from him. It made hot anger boil under his skin, made him want to punch Elias straight in his face. The face that was... infuriatingly similar to his.

"Look, I know he made a bad first impression with you, but just… Try to be nice?" Rose sighed, patting his shoulder once and sending him a pleading look "We can't risk getting into trouble with the king because you felt the need to insult his son."

Yakko gave a soft scoff. Still, he did appreciate that Rose thought the worst thing he'd ever do was insult the guy a little. It seemed like Rose's impression of him was mostly pacifistic, and honestly? It was kind of nice.

"Can you blame me though?" he allowed his anger to recede a little, if only for Rose's benefit. With no irritation left he would default to sadness, and he really wasn't in the mood to mope "He's the one who came barreling in and trying to break families apart."

"You know I can hear everything you say, right?"

Elias, still with his packed bags in hand, stared at Yakko in a deadpan. He was standing right outside their door, eyeing the base with curiosity, but Yakko was pretty sure he was just thinking that he would have to live like a peasant and how undignified it was. Just the thought of that sort of high-and-mighty attitude made him even more annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry  _Your Highness_. Did I upset your fragile ego?" he bowed mockingly, sending him a sneer, and Rose actually flinched at his level of sass "My most  _sincere_  apologies."

Apparently deciding he was not worth answering, Elias huffed a very snooty huff and walked forward, completely bypassing Yakko like he was just an annoying fly and making a beeline for where Marilyn was standing a few feet away, cheerily welcoming him. Yakko could only glare at his back as he walked away.

"Yakko. C'mon" Rose sighed in exasperation, watching the prince walk off with tired eyes and then shifting them back to him, raising an eyebrow "You know you're going to have to see him every day now, don't you? At least try to be civil."

"I know, I know" he was about to cross his arms, but he realized how childish the action would make him look and put his hands on his hips instead. Now he just looked like a nagging mom "I'll try, but I'm not making any sort of promises."

Rose's response was to send him a 'really?' expression even as he walked over to where his brother and sister were standing aside. Their arms were crossed and they were sending glares to Elias, who was currently being begrudgingly twirled around by an extremely happy Marilyn. Wakko and Dot perked up a little as he approached them, turning to look at him instead.

"Are we really going to have to see his butt face every morning?" Dot's words could have been interpreted as mere annoyance, but Yakko could detect the genuine animosity just from her tone of voice. He could tell she held a strong grudge against Elias for what had happened when they'd first met.

"Why is he here anyway? What's he supposed to contribute?" Wakko's own biting words expressed the same amount of resentment for the prince as his sister's had. It seemed that if Elias wanted to earn their favor, he was going to have to work hard.

The thought improved his mood a little, and Yakko shrugged, relaxing the slightest bit "Dunno. He's probably just the king's messenger."

"I bet Marilyn bribed everyone else to let him stay."

Wakko's pouty murmur was interrupted by a slightly agitated Rose, who quickly walked toward them from where Yakko had left her "Guys, I'm serious.  _Please_  try to be nice, there's no point to us being at each other's throats. Besides, Elias is an okay guy when you get to know him."

"Do you actually mean that or are you just saying it so the group won't have problems?" Dot's narrowed eyes oozed suspicion.

In response, Rose fidgeted a little. Her expression was somewhat sheepish "I mean... He's not that bad."

"That doesn't exactly sound like an endorsement" Yakko raised a brow.

"Okay, so I don't really know him that well" she sighed, shrugging "I've never been particularly close to him, but that doesn't mean he's a bad person. Besides... considering the circumstances, it's understandable that he's upset."

Rose sent him an expectant look. Yakko wanted to pretend nothing was wrong, but she'd probably already guessed that he hadn't done it. This thought only intensified when her expression turned sad.

"... You haven't asked them, have you?"

He almost snapped at her that no, of course he hadn't. He hadn't had the courage to; the fear of losing them and never seeing them again had gotten stronger than ever since Rose had asked that of him. He couldn't just give them away, but at the same time he knew he was being selfish. In the end, it was their choice... He just hadn't been able to make his mouth form the words to ask them. He was too scared.

He didn't think he could stand losing them.

When he turned to her though he saw the soft warmth of affection and sadness in her gaze, and he just couldn't find it in himself to be mad at her. This wasn't her fault, he shouldn't treat her like it was.

"I just didn't get to it" he spoke, instead, with a perfectly calm expression, a fake look that he'd practically perfected. Despite the fact that everyone who didn't know him well was fooled by it though, he saw his siblings weren't falling for it. Wakko and Dot glanced at each other with a slightly worried expression and Rose, who was just starting to be able to read him accurately, looked conflicted.

"… Right. I'll be the messenger then" she was clearly uncomfortable, but determined enough to push through it "I have to ask if you two would be interested in meeting with the king... who could very well be your father."

Immediately after her words Wakko and Dot's eyes widened.

"Do you..." Dot was the first to speak, her gaze almost... scared as she stared up at the blonde "Do you really think...?"

Since finding out that the king was actually alive and Elias hadn't just been hallucinating, everything had become more real to the three of them. There really was a man out there who claimed to be their father, and he apparently really did miss them. It wasn't just an unfunny delusion anymore.

"Well... I can't really say for sure" Rose sighed, giving them a compassionate look "I'm not exactly familiar with the Warner family, but I think you guys should give it a chance. Who knows, you might really have found your father."

This whole situation felt like there was a spike being slowly stabbed through his chest, getting closer and closer to pulverizing his heart with every word that was uttered. The word "father" made the pain flare especially hard.

"How come we haven't seen him in over seven years then?" Wakko looked almost angry at the thought that their parent had been alive all this time and hadn't bothered to come for them until now "If he's the king, shouldn't it have been easy if he really wanted to find us?"

"Look, I'm not going to give you a big speech on how your parents will love you no matter what and that you should always listen to them because they're always right" Rose rolled her eyes "'Cos frankly, I know first-hand that that's bullshit."

Yakko almost flinched from how hard Rose's voice had suddenly gotten. Yeah... She would know, wouldn't she?

That was... He should forget about it for now. He would only get more upset if he started thinking about the things they'd said a few days before.

"I'm just saying to maybe listen to what the guy has to say? I'm not going to force you or anything" Rose continued talking, oblivious to the way he was cracking in half "In fact, even William seemed like he was going to accept it if you guys just said you didn't want to have anything to do with him. But... I don't know. You two do whatever you think is best. You don't have to see him at all if you don't want to."

The conflicted spark in his siblings' eyes only intensified, and at Rose's words, Wakko's anger appeared to subside and he joined Dot in feeling only doubt and fear. This time, they both simply looked up at him with an expression that screamed  _"What do we do? Help. Please."_

Seeing them look like that made the pain flare stronger than ever before, his fear reacting to the feelings and screaming at him to grab them and never let go, never let  _anyone_  make such expressions appear on their faces ever again.

As the adult that he was supposed to be though, Yakko just told his fear to shut up and spoke like a proper older brother should.

He grinned in such a fake way he was surprised nobody called him out on it immediately, trying to lighten the mood with incredibly forced humor "Just do what you feel is right. I mean, wouldn't being the king's children be awesome? Just think of all the luxuries!"

He wasn't surprised when they didn't buy it.

"But Yakko..." their big black eyes stared into his soul, watering just the slightest bit. It made his heart break all over again.

"Guys..." he felt his own eyes water, biting the inner walls of his cheeks so he wouldn't do something stupid. With a sad exhale, he willed himself to calm down.

Reassurance. They needed reassurance, and he was the only one who could give it to them at the moment.

"... Even if you figure out you're royal and you're actually related to this dolt," Yakko waved a hand vaguely in Elias' direction who, again, just sent him a bored look in response to his mockery, even if it was half-hearted "doesn't mean I'm going to stop being your brother, okay?"

"... It doesn't mean I'm going to stop loving you. Ever" the smile he sent them could have, probably, been called the most sincere smile he had ever given.

Practically instantly, the tiny drops of water that had been inside their eyes turned into a river, and then it was impossible to keep the tears in. Their lips quivered and suddenly the oldest was almost toppling over from the strength with which his siblings threw themselves at him.

"YAAAAAKKOOOOO" they sobbed at him, their tiny arms wrapping around his middle and hugging the life out of him "We love you too! You'll always be our brother!"

He laughed softly, hugging them back. For a moment, everything was right with the world.

"Yeah. I know."

He chanced a look to the side and was surprised to see Rose looking at them with the most  _"aww"_  face he had ever seen. Her smile would probably split her face in two.

However, what surprised him even more was when he looked further beyond and, beside a squealing Marilyn and a softly-smiling StarDust, he saw Elias looking on with... Anger? Sadness? He probably thought he should be the one sharing such a moment with Wakko and Dot.

Yakko only hugged them harder and glared daggers at him, a challenging look on his eyes. He was pleased to see it made the Little Prince look to the side with what he thought was a snarl, and then, his eyes posed themselves on Yakko once again with a look that said  _"Enjoy it while you can, asshole."_

His eyes spoke smugly back to Elias.  _"Do your worst."_

As if to provoke him, the prince asked to the two younger warners, completely ignoring him "So, your answer?"

Yakko wanted, once again, to punch the guy in his stupid face, but he decided to refrain because his siblings turned their heads to look at the prince. They looked like they were still thinking it through, but after a few moments, they just nodded at each other and looked at Elias with decided expressions.

"We'll hear what he has to say."

"And if we don't like it... We'll just pretend he didn't say anything at all."

Woah, he didn't think he'd ever heard Wakko and Dot be so resentful. It was already amazing that they were even considering meeting up with William from what he could tell; if they actually forgave him, it would be a miracle.

Elias seemed conflicted. He looked happy that they were giving his father a chance, but worried that the stakes were so high. He also appeared to finally realize that the distance that had been made between him and them since their supposed disappearance seven years before was bigger than he had originally thought.

"I'm glad you're giving us a chance… but I don't want you to feel pressured. Father doesn't either" his eyes turned sad, and he looked at the younger warners in melancholy "Just knowing you two are alright… It's already enough of a blessing."

Wakko and Dot only seemed more conflicted by Elias' words, their faces confused as to whether they should express happiness or look uncomfortable. They hadn't exactly warmed up to the prince and king but, from Yakko's perspective, they weren't actively trying to dislike them anymore. Aside from being resentful of Elias for bringing the issue into their lives at all, they didn't see any reasons to actively hate them.

Yakko, however, had plenty of reasons to dislike Elias. The way his face mirrored his, the fact that he was trying to steal his family away… And perhaps what he hated the most about the prince, the way he could turn his feelings for him from hatred over to guilt with the flip of a switch. It wasn't fair that Elias made him feel like scum when  _he_  was the one who was trying to destroy everything Yakko had worked for. He shouldn't have to feel guilty whenever Elias showed how  _elated_  he was to have Wakko and Dot back in his life.

"Okay! Well, after that, um, "heart-warming display" I feel like we should actually focus on something that is pretty important for our quality of life" Rose interrupted the awkward silence with an equally as awkward grin, looking back and forth between the three siblings and the prince.

"And what's that?" Elias asked disinterestedly, mood still slightly sad.

"Shopping for clothes of course!"

The reaction of all four Warners was to let out an incredulous "What" in perfect unison.

* * *

"I can't believe Rose convinced us to go on a shopping trip" one could tell by the bored drone of his voice that WarnerStock's prince was not very amused. And if one couldn't hear that properly, the deadpan way he turned to look at Rose was a dead giveaway. Rose pretended she couldn't see him all the way from her seat.

"Oh don't be such a grump, Ellie" Marilyn pat him on the shoulder, leaning closer to his cloak-covered form "When was the last time you went shopping?"

"Never, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Elias continued to sulk in his seat, ignoring Marilyn's pokes and prods to get him to lighten up, and though the prince wanted to evade those touches, it was practically impossible, seeing as the cheery blond was seated right next to him. Behind them sat Wakko, Dot, and StarDust, the younger warners trying to entertain themselves with making silly faces at each other while the oldest Milers looked on with mild amusement. At the very end Rose was trying to pretend that the fields that were passing by were extremely interesting, and Yakko stared at her from the other seat, trying to catch her attention somewhat passively.

"The weather sure is nice outside."

She didn't stop looking out the window, her brows furrowed.

"Mn."

"... Do you think there's gonna be cool clothes were we're going? I wouldn't want to end up looking like a hobo."

"Sure."

Seeming to tire of her one-worded responses, Yakko stopped beating around the bush, sighing "Okay, you're obviously super distracted. What's up?"

"Sorry, it's nothing. I just-" she made a worried noise "I'm thinking."

Suddenly, Yakko started patting down the pockets of his khakis. She raised an eyebrow as she watched him fumble around for a bit until finally, his expression lit up as he seemed to find what he was looking for. Then, with an incredibly pleased grin, he showed her what he'd found. It was a penny.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She couldn't help it, she snorted in an incredibly unattractive way and pushed at his shoulder a little in her hilarity. Yakko started snickering at her reaction and pushed back.

"You're such a dork" she giggled, finally coming down from the bout of laughter. She couldn't help but note that as Yakko stopped laughing as well that his expression seemed to sadden immediately, as if it were something he was all too used to. Her smile fell away.

Rose hadn't noticed before, but Yakko's smiles hardly ever looked real. Even when it was clear he had been amused by something, or had been happy about something, the smile he showed never felt right. Like it was always a little bit forced, never fully happy. She wondered why.

But it wasn't the first thing on her List of Things to Worry About; what she was actually fidgeting about at the moment was the fact that she was still hiding her suspicions about what the king had told them. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that she felt like telling Yakko would be a terrible idea, and yet the thought of continuing to hide it from him made her sick.

She didn't know where these shivers of terror were coming from, but something sinister was going on in the shadows, and her mind knew it. For whatever reason, she had this indescribable urge to keep Yakko hidden, away from prying eyes. She felt like amongst those eyes, there were people who wanted to harm him. She didn't know why they would want to hurt him, but she was convinced that they would, and if they wanted to do anything to him they would have to do it over her dead body.

This, somehow, connected with what William had told them. Yes, he was most definitely searching for Yakko... or so was her main theory. Was he searching for Yakko because  _he_  wanted something to do with him, or was the man doing it for someone else? All Rose knew was that word travelled fast, and if someone, say the king, heard of Yakko's existence, others could end up hearing too. People who shouldn't know about Yakko.

She wondered who could possibly be after him, and why. Maybe she was just being seriously paranoid. Maybe there was nobody after him, not William nor anyone else. Maybe everything was okay and she didn't need to make sure there were no snipers over the city searching for a chance to blow his brains out.

But the fact of the matter was that her instincts were hardly ever wrong, and she felt like not heeding her guts' warning would be a stupid choice.

At her perpetual silence, Yakko started looking a little concerned, enough that he seemed ready to go  _"seriously though, is something bothering you?"_. And just as Rose was getting worried that he would manage to pull the truth out of her via puppy dog eyes and a worried look she saw someone approaching them, wearing the silly-looking blue uniform that had never suited him.

She almost blessed him for the interruption, perking up as he reached them "Hey, Nico."

Amazingly, Yakko's soft look toward her changed almost immediately into a glare that he sent in Nicolas' direction. The man returned the sentiment, but continued walking until he was next to them. His posture was stiff.

"Sorry for interrupting your kindergarten fieldtrip; I know you've got brats to take care of" he smirked at Yakko's glower "But there's something kind of important I've got to report."

"Huh, it's been a while since there was anything to report about the train station" she was genuinely surprised, but by the man's nervous glancing around it really was something important. Her expression immediately turned serious, her voice a whisper "Should you really be doing this here though? What if someone who's not supposed to hear-"

Nicolas shook his head quickly, leaning closer to her seat "Doesn't matter, everyone knows about it at this point. And it really  _is_  important."

"... Well then. What is it?"

With an uncomfortable grimace, the man hissed out his next words.

"Nobody's seen the Pass Watchers since last month."

She could feel the way Yakko jumped at the mention of them, no doubt remembering his first encounter with the officers. Rose merely took to staring at Nicolas in shock.

"… They just stopped coming?"

The man nodded with a frown "One day they up and disappeared."

"What… Why? Why would Athena stop searching for spies?" she blinked quickly, incredulous. There was no logical explanation for this. What exactly had changed for Athena to do this so suddenly?

Nicolas leaned against their seats inconspicuously, but his caramel eyes were constantly moving, checking for any danger. His moustache twitched once "I mean; I would be glad that they haven't been kidnapping anyone else, and it's great that it doesn't look like any more innocent blood will be spilled…"

Rose felt Yakko shudder next to her, but was too focused to address it at that moment "But something's not right."

"… Call me paranoid, but I don't think that she's been searching for spies."

The shivering stopped, but instead, she got a blank-faced Yakko staring at the seats on the other side of the train. If she wasn't worried before, she was worried now, but what Nicolas was saying was  _important_  and she needed to pay attention.

Thus, she responded, but her gaze was fixed on Yakko "You think she's been looking for something else."

"I think she's been looking for some _one_  in specific; and whomever she's been looking for, she's found it."

At the top row, Marilyn suddenly grabbed Elias' shoulder in a vice grip, causing the prince to jump and thus get the attention of the whole group. She'd clearly heard.

" _Please_  tell me you've used a credible fake passport" her voice took on a frightened stutter.

"Who do you think I am, an amateur?" Elias huffed, but when he realized that Marilyn was legitimately scared, his gaze softened and he put a gentle hand on top of the one she had on his shoulder "... It's fine Mary, promise. Father's no fool when it comes to espionage."

She seemed to calm slightly, but not nearly enough not to ask "Do you think she's been searching for any surviving members of the Warner family line?"

Nicolas clicked his tongue, frowning "Probably. That's all I can think of. I mean, who else could she be searching for?"

Right. Who else could she be searching for? Why would she be searching for anyone else?

For some reason this wasn't sitting right with her at all.

"I don't like this" Rose murmured under her breath, frowning "She's definitely up to something. But we don't know enough to do something about it..."

With a soft resigned groan, Nicolas spoke "You can continue your little excursion… I'll collect as much info as I can and report to you later."

"You'd do that?" Marilyn sounded surprised.

He shrugged "It's not like I have anything better to do, and besides, you've got to take care of your protégées, don't you?"

Just a glance at Yakko's still expressionless face said everything she needed to know "Yeah. We do."

Carefully, she put a hand on his shoulder, and was not surprised when he jumped and his eyes cleared suddenly, turning to look at her like he'd been dreaming for the last ten minutes. She wouldn't be surprised if he told her he'd been in the middle of a flashback.

"... You okay?"

Yakko's response was to look back to the seats, blink a few times, gulp, and then look at her uncertainly. He looked twitchy.

"I, uh… I think so."

* * *

The rest of the trip to the clothes market was uneventful- well, for everyone but him. Rose seemed distracted most of the time, probably thinking about the whole Pass Watchers deal. Yakko was too distracted himself to really care about whatever that was about.

Ever since they had come to WarnerStock he had felt weird. Not weird like "I don't belong here" but weird as in  _"something is very wrong here"_. This strange feeling had only been proven correct since he had started to have the most intense hallucinations he could ever remember having, and his flashbacks had never been as bad as the one he'd had at the butcher's.

The voice wasn't helping either. His relatively calm suggestions of not looking at the hallucination he'd had back at the freezer had turned into terrified, hurried pleads to look away from... whatever the hell that thing was.

As was apparently going to be routine for every time he was triggered by something, just a few words or an object set off a flashback, and before or after, a hallucination would take place. This time the flashback was more violent than the last one. Less clear as to what was going on, but equally as bloody.

_Images overlapped; one moment he was tripping a child double his size to the ground, another he was stabbing an older person in the eye with a pair of rusty scissors, their screams echoing in his skull. The next he was holding his bloodied hands and trying not to cry. A large hand patted his head one moment, and the next a child was sobbing, holding onto him like he was something precious._

_Save them, he had... he had to save his loved ones, because if he didn't hurt these people, didn't kill, **his friends would be killed instead.**_

_Save, save, save them. He had to save those important to him. He'd made the mistake of not fighting hard enough already, of having mercy._

_Kill, kill, kill them. He had to kill those who wanted to hurt those he loved. He'd never show mercy again, not to those who would hurt the people he lived for._

_One moment he was in one place, the next he was in another, but the only thing in common between them was…_

_The blood. The violence. The fact that he'd dirtied his hands when he'd only been a child._

Although Rose's tap on his shoulder had cut off his flashback, it had unfortunately brought forth the hallucination of the week, a… strange blob of red shifting and stretching like a small contained pond on top of the few seats he could see on the other side of the train. It wouldn't have been too traumatic, all things considered, if the red of the "pond" weren't blood and if there weren't a bunch of decapitated heads screaming at him whenever they surfaced.

The worst part was that he was pretty certain that he recognized a few of the people who'd been "decapitated". He wondered who they were. Had he failed them? He wouldn't be surprised.

\-- Yakko- Yakko. Listen to me this time, please. Just- Why don't you talk to Blondie? I bet she has interesting things to talk about. --

Yakko could hear the desperate tone the voice was speaking with, his words quick and shaky. Yakko could almost imagine him with a scared, forced grin.

It wasn't as easy as he was making it sound though. It wasn't like Yakko  _wanted_  to stare into the empty black sockets that were on their faces instead of eyes. It wasn't like he wanted to listen to their pleas, their curses, their blaming. It wasn't like he didn't want to plug his ears, pretend he couldn't hear them crying out "Help me! Please help me!" or "It's your fault! Everything is your fault!"

But it was almost mesmerizing in its morbid-ness, or at least it seemed to be if the way his eyes were glued to the image was any indication. He couldn't look away no matter how much he tried. It was eating his sanity from the inside out, but he couldn't even move his head to the side to stop it from happening, so the voice's words were pretty much useless. Not that he didn't appreciate the concern, but…

\-- Okay- fuck- I get it, you can't do anything. You just- relax, I'll figure something out. Just stay still and… I don't know, try not to think too much about it, just don't panic. --

He didn't know what exactly the voice could do, but he was willing to hear him out. He didn't have any way to say no to him when he was trying not to go insane anyway.

As if to hurry the voice up, his brain started acting up even  _more_ , slowly distorting the train cart until it looked like a Dali painting. Hung bodies began appearing from the ceiling one by one, falling a short distance until the rope's length forced them to stay elevated in the middle of the air, bouncing a little from inertia before stilling. He was pretty sure the bodies were all corpses and they weren't supposed to be alive, but they still somehow managed to lift their heads and turn dead eyes to him, grinning at him with a mouth full of yellowed teeth. There was meat stuck in-between their teeth.

He tried to remain calm, but it was impossible. It was almost as if he was suffering sleep paralysis, why couldn't he  _move_?

If only Rose would tap his shoulder again. Maybe then he'd be able to look at her instead of at… all that.

\-- Holy- --

The voice seemed to need to collect himself after seeing what the hallucination was becoming, inhaling shakily.

\-- Okay… Okay, I'm going to really hate myself for this later but- this is the best I can do. Try to focus on what I'm going to show you, okay?  _Please_. --

... Show him? The voice could do that?

But he didn't doubt his words when he felt another flashback coming on, unprompted.

When he managed to focus on the memory, Yakko saw...

Himself.

_He was tiny, so **so**  tiny, but his grin was big and happy. The huge white shirt he was wearing only made the fact that he was frightfully thin more obvious, but he was unhindered by this, running through a hallway with pasty white walls and poor lighting._

_"Come on!" the child version of him urged, giggling. Staring at Yakko as if he was an entirely different person-_

_Wait. Was he...?_

_"You're too fast! At least slow down a little!"_

_Yakko felt his lips move, but the voice that came out wasn't his. It was a little less squeaky than his had been as a child, a little lower. Yakko could almost... recognize it. That was when he realized, eyes widening._

_He was seeing one of the voice's memories, from his perspective._

_**That was why he could see himself**._

_Now having completely forgotten about his hallucination, he watched with awe, intrigued as to where the memory would go. He was sure the voice wouldn't have picked anything gruesome or upsetting, which only made him giddier to explore. It was a change to see his past without being in danger of seeing something... less than happy._

_Sadly though, most of what he saw were more white hallways as the child version of himself and the voice ran. There were some children whose faces he could see and recognize, and some that he couldn't, their faces nothing more than black squiggles. It seemed like the voice had also forgotten details as the years passed._

_One of the things that alarmed him however, was that there seemed to be an... unnerving amount of adult warners in lab coats. Worse than that, most of the children he could see seemed to shy away from them, walking as fast as they could in the opposite direction. They were all worryingly thin, all of them wearing the same white shirt that was far too big on all of them._

_Also, were those... **tags**  on their ears?_

\-- I think that's enough. --

The memory suddenly began to cloud, the voices slowing down until he could no longer hear them. His vision was slowly being overtaken by blackness.

With panic, he tried to stop the voice from getting him out, fought against it as hard as he could.

\- No! Wait! I-! -

And just as suddenly as the memory had begun it was over. He was back in the train wagon.

\- ... wanted to see more... -

\-- ... --

"Yakko?"

Rose's voice stopped him from sulking, causing him to shake his head to try and get back to reality. When he turned to look at the row of seats at the other side of the train, there was no weird mutant blob screeching at him, nor any hanging people staring.

Well, at least the voice's plan had worked. If only he had gotten a bit more time in that memory though...

He turned back to look at Rose again and he was surprised when he saw her gazing at him with a soft expression, a hand once again on his shoulder. He heard Nicolas mutter something about them reaching their destination, a loud intercom proudly announcing "Arriving at Athena's station. Please be careful when you step off the train".

"Are you okay? You seem... really out of it" she repeated, this time sounding like she was getting legitimately concerned. As the rest of the group stood up and prepared to get off, since they hadn't seen his little episode, Yakko gave her a tiny smile.

For a moment the world sounded like it was underwater, muffled and distorted, and his image was slowly coming in and out of focus, but a few seconds later the ringing in his ears stopped and the memory of his hallucination was nothing but a tiny bit of a headache. He felt... almost normal.

"Yeah, I'm okay" he said, this time confidently. He could almost feel the voice and Rose's relief at how he'd calmed down, Rose expressing it with a smile and the voice merely huffing out a relieved sigh.

Rose gently tugged at his arm to get him to stand up "Well, let's go then. Even you need a change of clothes, don't you think?"

"I guess so."

He stood up and followed her out, but his head was somewhere else entirely. He just couldn't get over the fact that he'd just learnt something very important about the voice.

... He hadn't always been in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Hallucination, mentions of blood, mentions of murder and violence, images relating to suicide, light gore


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God! Oh my God! It's here, it's done! It's an emotional roller coaster! IT'S SUPER FUCKING LONG!
> 
> Regular warnings in the end notes, as well as a bit of a rant. Please just take this before I die.

Yakko probably should have been more concerned about the fact that he'd most likely killed people when he'd been nothing but a small kid younger than nine, but honestly he just felt cold at the thought. Not scared, not horrified, just... cold. Detached. Maybe it was because he hadn't really seen any faces? He wasn't sure  _who_  he'd killed exactly. Who knew, maybe they'd deserved it. It certainly would fit, considering what he'd heard in the flashback.

'I have to kill them because I have to save those I love'… It sounded pretty heroic, if he was being honest. He figured he'd been in a situation similar to the one he was in now: forced to use violence for the greater good, or at least to protect good people. Besides, he trusted himself enough to know that even in the pieces of his life that he didn't remember he would never have hurt people just because.

… Right?

But regardless, he really didn't pay that much attention to it because he'd seen one of the voice's memories. He wasn't just shocked, he was also ecstatic and... relieved. The whole experience  _had_  to be proof enough that the voice was his own being, that he really existed... That Yakko hadn't just made him up in a fit of insanity and was just in denial about having done so. It had to prove that the voice was his very real friend who actually cared about him, who was truly there for him no matter what might happen. He didn't have to doubt  _any_  of this anymore, surely.

... Unless that hadn't really been a memory. Unless Yakko had hallucinated the whole thing and just  _thought_  he'd seen his friend's past. He wouldn't put it past his brain to pull such a nasty trick.

He'd almost allowed the thought to pull him into a panic attack, having gotten so dangerously close that the voice had needed to calm him down with soothing words for a whopping fifteen minutes. Luckily he was a pretty functional nutcase, so it wasn't too difficult to plaster a fake grin on his face and walk with the group while he slowly crumbled to pieces on the inside. No big deal, he'd had worse.

\- C'mon, Yakko. Positive attitude, this is supposed to be a _fun_ trip... -

It wasn't until they'd walked for another ten minutes that he managed to calm down enough (and repress the terrifying thoughts enough) to look at his surroundings. And honestly? It didn't look half bad. He followed the group down a narrow but nicely decorated street to Athena's shopping center, which... considering the condition most of WarnerStock was in he was surprised even existed. And it was pretty good looking too. He likened it to the outlets he'd seen on tv, filled with different clothing and entertainment stores. There were quite a few restaurants also, he realized as they walked through the "food court" and to the other side of the shopping centre, but almost all of them were closed and boarded up. Seemed like they'd been shut down because of the food shortage a while ago.

"Okay group," Rose finally turned to address everyone when they got to the center of the open mall, putting her palms together. A beautiful fountain with the statue of a warner cherub angel made a soothing noise of running water behind her "This could take a while since Yakko, Wakko and Dot basically only have one set of clothes to their name, so we'll split up to make this go by faster. I don't think I need to say who's going with who."

Yakko immediately walked to stand beside Rose, noting that Wakko stepped over to Marilyn and Dot bounced to StarDust fairly quickly as well. It was sort of funny when Elias was inevitably left alone in the center of the three pairs, raising his hands up with an incredulous look as if saying "what the hell guys". It was like they were in high school PE and about to play dodgeball, but nobody wanted to pick Elias so he was the loser left to be chosen last. Yakko couldn't help but snort at the thought of throwing several rubber balls at his face.

"Oh, right, we're not an even number anymore" Rose frowned in thought, clearly having completely forgotten that Elias was even there. Before too long, she shrugged "Eh, you can go with Marilyn. Makes the most sense to me."

" _Yes_ " Marilyn hissed with an evil grin on her face, quickly grabbing an alarmed Elias by the wrist "I'm gonna make you try on  _all_  my potential buys. And that means dresses.  _Lots of dresses_."

Elias  _immediately_  turned to look at Rose with wide eyes, his lip almost wobbling "Rose, please. You can't do this to me."

In response, Rose only chuckled "Sorry, man, my sister has already chosen you. You'll be a worthy sacrifice."

Yakko could barely hold in his giggles as Elias was promptly pulled away by a bouncing Marilyn, letting out a pitifully soft whine of "noooooooo" as his body was literally dragged through the dusty streets. An amused Wakko followed after them at a relaxed pace.

Smiling beside a snickering Dot, StarDust waved lazily at them "I suppose this means we should get going. We will see you later" she then gently took Dot's hand and they both walked away, chatting as they did.

Rose turned to him once they were alone "So."

There was a soft, but slightly concerned smile on her face. Yakko couldn't really blame her, considering how weird he'd been acting in the train, and he was sure he still looked a little pale from trying to recover from too many scary thoughts at once. But he was actually feeling slightly better, and he didn't want to worry her, so he smiled back. The sight of it made some tension leave her shoulders, her smile becoming more genuine.

"Where do you want to go first? You're the one who needs clothes, after all."

Huh, good question. He usually didn't think much of clothes, as he hadn't really been able to choose what he wanted to wear like, ever, but he did think he had some sort of preference. He also knew what he distinctly, specifically  _did not_  want to wear, so it shouldn't be too complicated. He just had to find what he liked first.

"I'm not really sure. I think I'll start by just trying on whatever catches my eye" he hummed, following Rose as she began walking towards the stores "What about you? You're not just gonna stand there while I try stuff on, are you?"

"'Course not" she smirked at him, gently elbowing him in the stomach. He returned the gesture, now with a less sad, more mischievous smile "I'm gonna be putting ridiculous stuff in your 'try on' pile so you'll look like a total dork... And I'll probably eye a few shops for myself, but I don't really need much. This is more an entertainment trip for me."

"Really? Trying to prank me? How childish" he grinned evilly as he spoke next, not unlike how Marilyn had looked a few moments prior "Maybe  _I'll_  prank  _you_. We'll see who has the last laugh."

"A competition? I'm totally in" she laughed haughtily, brushing her hair off her shoulders "I'm gonna make you look so ridiculous you'll never be able to show your face in this town again."

"Savage" he grinned, hip-checking her "But I accept your challenge, you evil mastermind."

They then continued their childish war by attempting to trip each other as they walked, but neither actually fell. The way Yakko saw it, they were just training their reflexes. People stared, but where another time he would have felt uncomfortable and stop, somehow Yakko couldn't care less about it, laughing and bantering with Rose like he hadn't almost had a breakdown twenty minutes before.

The wonders of friendship. Truly a powerful weapon, if one knew how to use it.

\- Hm. Something seems weird about all this, doesn't it? -

Yakko paused abruptly in front of a random store at the voice's comment, but before Rose could think that he'd stopped because he wanted to check out the store, he continued walking. He immediately felt his paranoia rising up, glancing around and feeling sweat gathering at the base of his neck.

\- What do you mean? Did you see something suspicious? Is there something wrong? -

\- Oh, no! Nothing like that, there's no need to freak out. -

The voice quickly reassured him, sounding a little worried himself, but it seemed like he was mostly concerned that he'd scared Yakko. Probably worried that he'd descend back into a meltdown.

Instead, the voice continued on with a sheepish grin.

\- I mean this shopping place is weird. Where'd they even get the money to make something like this with the way things are right now? I dunno, it just does't make much sense to me.-

Well, now that he mentioned it… It  _was_  kind of weird, seeing all the different designs up on display. Somewhat because Yakko slowly realized that warner fashion and overall culture didn't seem all that different from the humans', but mostly because of the sheer abundance of items. The voice was right, it was completely out of place.

This was  _nothing_  like the food market. It almost felt as if he'd stepped into an alternate dimension where WarnerStock was actually thriving.

"Uh… Rose?" he started as they continued walking, the path never seeming to end. Dang, there really was a lot to choose from, huh? "Why exactly are there so many clothes shops when there's a food shortage? I mean… Priorities, right?"

Somehow Rose understood what he was getting at, snorting a little as she looked at him with an amused expression.

"Well you're not wrong, but there is a good reason for it" she said, shrugging and keeping her eyes opened as she looked at each store they passed "WarnerStock doesn't have much land to begin with, right? That's why the food shortage is happening in the first place. We can't waste any growing cotton or other plants to make fabric, so we make synthetic fabric instead."

"Synthetic?" huh. How did Rose know any of this anyway? Maybe Athena had forced her to take lessons about it "What's it made of exactly?"

"Petrol."

If he'd been in a cartoon, a giant exclamation point would have appeared over his head.

"Oil?" he questioned, confused "That's super valuable, and you're using it to make clothes?"

Rose only looked at him with confusion "What? We haven't found any other use for it, how is it valuable?"

"It makes cars run? It makes asphalt?"

"… You do know we have neither, right?"

Oh… Right. WarnerStock was still pretty behind the times when it came to vehicles, since it was such a small country to begin with. Anyone who wanted to get anywhere used a carriage, and if not, they used the coal-fueled train.

Well, that explained a lot.

"Huh… So are all clothes made of oil or…?"

"Nah," Rose reassured him, waving a hand as if to say 'don't worry' "They're not exactly good, not for us and not for the ecosystem, so they're only made and sold when there's no other choice. We usually use the decent amount of wool we get from the few sheep we keep, but they need grass and we also don't have much of that because we use most of the land to grow crops. We can't keep that many sheep. So, y'know, we don't have many choices."

"Oh!" she added, as if she'd suddenly remembered something "We did get a few weird bugs that make silk a few years back. We've been using those too."

"Silkworms? Where'd you even get those?"

"That's what they're called? Huh" Rose muttered distractedly, before smirking at him "Some humans that tried to trespass had them, so we 'confiscated' them. Finders, keepers."

Couldn't argue with that.

"So that's why this place is so big" he hummed, a little annoyed. To think that such a useless industry was thriving while people starved. Though, he guessed no one was really to blame in this case "That's a problem."

"You're telling me. We have little land, so we don't have much food to go around, but we have lots of, uh, "silkworms", lots of oil, and a bit of wool. That means lots of clothes and not many meals" Rose sighed as she finally concluded the history lesson, actually stopping at a shop to eye the window. She looked a little angry too "Can't really do much about it, y'know? You can't make food from oil."

_-_  That sounds like a real shit economy to me. -

"Yeah, how has this species not gone extinct under these conditions?" he accidentally spoke aloud, unconsciously trying to respond both to the voice and to Rose.

She lifted an eyebrow at how weirdly worded his response was, but thankfully let it go. He was barely able to contain a sigh of relief.

"Well... It's not easy, but we make do. I won't lie, even before Athena, things were... hard" she frowned, biting her lip "I can tell you from personal experience that food has never been plentiful in WarnerStock. As a family of farmers, we Milers lived a pretty rough life. Crops would die often, and there wasn't much land we could even farm on. Since we had to give a big fraction of our work to the crown so the rest of the population could eat, we never had enough food for all of us, and even  _then_  a lot of people still went hungry."

Yakko frowned at the thought of Rose and her sisters going hungry. It sure sounded like they'd had a difficult life.

"So... things have never been 'good'."

"Not as far as I'm aware. A few decades back things went seriously downhill and every year there would be a food shortage. It's only now that it's bad enough to actually have people dying though, this is beyond  _anything_  we've ever faced before."

That was an... interesting bit of trivia about the country. As they walked past several more stores, Yakko came to a stunning realization.

If WarnerStock had always been in a bad spot, then Athena assuming power might not actually have anything to do with the country's current situation. At least, food-wise. He knew the Queen was keeping money away from the people as well as weapons, but was the hunger striking WarnerStock really her fault? Maybe the food shortage happening at the same time as Athena was a coincidence. Maybe there was an actual reasonable explanation for why Athena was doing what she was doing, a reason other than to cause misery. The Milers sisters couldn't exactly be objective about it, considering the woman was their mother.

\- ... You think maybe the country is just falling apart? Maybe... Maybe we can't actually fix anything. -

The voice paused to think about it, humming.

\- Can't really say. All we know for sure is what Blondie and her sisters told us, and that isn't much to begin with... But from where I'm sitting? I can't see this place getting out of the hole it's dug itself into. -

He had to agree that the situation looked pretty bleak. With a disheartened frown, Yakko followed Rose into the store and stared as she looked through the merchandise. Thankfully his mood hadn't plummeted  _completely_ , so he easily bounced back from the previously sad thoughts and focused on the clothes in front of him.

It was a new experience for him, picking out clothes. That fact would seem ridiculous to anyone else, but while on the studio they'd had a personal stylist for the show, and even the clothes they'd worn around when they hadn't been working had been specifically picked by the person in charge of 'looking after them'. If the fact that he'd managed to fall from the water tower while on their watch was any indication, they'd been terrible at their job. You can imagine how bad their fashion choices had been too. So, the fact that he actually got to choose what he would wear was pretty exciting, even if the process of shopping was not.

Luckily for him, Rose seemed to have the uncanny ability to find the weirdest clothes available.

"Oh my God, Yakko, look" she said, grinning as she turned around with a grey sweater in her hands, the sight of which immediately sent him into a giggle fit "It's you!"

"Christ, who the hell made this?" he questioned through his laughter as he grabbed the grey sweater. It was obvious that it was meant to say 'Don't worry, be happy' but the way it'd been designed made it look like it said 'Don't be happy, worry' instead. It was definitely him "This is too relatable, I think they've been stalking me."

"Honestly, I think they've been stalking both of us" she smiled at him with humor, pulling up something else for him to see "Because this is like, how I feel  _all_  the time."

In her hands was a grey tank top that said 'Chocolate is the answer, who cares what the question is'.

"Wow. How did they manage to cater  _specifically_  to your particular brand of chocolate addiction?"

"I dunno, but there's also this" she chuckled as she pulled up another piece of clothing, this one a white t-shirt that read 'I wish you were pizza', with the pizza being an actual doddle of a slice of pizza. Again, relatable "So I think this store has my style on point. Better try these on."

"Nice" he turned back to the shirt rack he'd previously been looking through as Rose grabbed the clothes and started walking to the fitting room "Hopefully I'll have something to show you for when you get out."

And  _boy_  did he ever.

By the time Rose got out of the fitting room he'd already looked through half the store in an excited whirlwind and had managed to find some funny things, some fashion disasters, and some legitimately cool pieces.

"Rose, for the love of all that is holy  _please_  explain to me how anyone is supposed to get to this flipping pocket" he immediately turned to her with a grey dress in his hands when she approached, the back of which had one of those useless, button-closed pockets stitched on "I don't get it, why would anyone put that there?"

"Pffft" she giggled, grabbing the item from him and looking it over "This thing is a disaster, like  _what_  is one meant to do with it. Is it supposed to be decoration? Because if so, bleh, zero out of ten."

"I got more."

She grinned "Do tell."

He proceeded to show her some real fashion head scratchers, like a black shirt with zippers on the shoulders, but instead of getting the sleeves off when he unzipped them, they just… unzipped part-way. Fashion statement? Another one was a combo of a t-shirt with several photos of Britney Spears printed on it paired with pizza leggings. Just. Why? Why would anyone wear that? He did not know.

"How on Earth is one supposed to wear this?" Rose muttered in confusion and frustration as she moved the 'shorts' he'd given her this way and that, attempting to understand with no results. For some reason the shorts had long sleeves attached, making it some sort of hybrid of a sweater and shorts "You can't wear it as a sweater because the hole's split for legs, but you can't wear them as shorts because it has sleeves! What the hell!"

"I know!" he said as he raised his hands to the heavens. They would never understand.

He did take pity on her poor eyes and showed her some actually cool clothes though, like a sweater depicting a skeleton wearing a scarf and knitted hat (metal as hell), a shirt that read 'I'm not an early bird, or a night owl. I'm some form of permanently exhausted pigeon' which she laughed at, and a cute Totoro-themed dress that Rose didn't seem to get the reference to but found cute all the same.

"There're also these ones I found for you" he smiled innocently as he handed them to her "I think they suit your personality."

"…'Gosh, being a princess is exhausting'" her voice was deadpan as she read through the first one, then looked at him with a blank expression "You're right, Yakko. It's exhausting putting up with your shit all the time."

As he cackled and a smile snuck onto her face, she looked at another one, her whole face lighting up.

"Oh hell yeah!" she grinned, laughing as she read the shirt "'Bonjour, bitches'! I'm gonna wear this all the time."

"Thought you'd like it" he chuckled, holding up the last one, a black shirt which read 'Drama Queen' "Was saving this one for last."

He thought she'd complain again, but instead, she just looked at him with amusement.

"Are you sure that shirt isn't for you? 'Cos I think it suits you  _perfectly_. You're like, the embodiment of drama."

He only pouted at her, dropping his arms that had been holding the shirt up "You're such a meanie."

" _You're_  a meanie" she said, shaking her head and going back to the racks "I'll find something to embarrass you with too, you fool."

It took her a while to find something. Surprisingly, they'd already looked through most of the 'interesting' side of the store, but Rose was not to be defeated. She insisted she was going to 'find something great, just you wait, you're gonna look so silly.'

Meanwhile, he showed her some pun shirts because he liked making her suffer.

"'Send noods'? Seriously?" she hissed, her face scrunched up in pain as she looked at the shirt that had a picture of a bowl of ramen in between the words. He thought that one was pretty clever, actually "Garbage. This is a garbage shirt, get it away from me."

"Awww, c'mon Rose it's not that bad" he said with a pout, immediately cracking a grin as he pulled up another shirt "At least it's not this."

It read 'It's a tea shirt' with a picture of a cute little tea bag in the corner.

"Ugh! No!" she threw her hands up and turned around, as if ready to walk out of the store "This is awful, I'm leaving."

"But Roooooose" he whined, quickly stepping in front of her with another shirt and an evil look in his eye "I think these puns are pretty… humorous."

The black shirt had a picture of a bone right next to the text 'I found this humerus'.

She screeched then, putting her hands over her eyes.

"Stop! Stop drowning me in puns!" it was obvious she was smiling though, so he laughed and gently tried prying her hands away from her face "No! You'll just make my eyes bleed with more puns!"

"Okay, okay. No more puns" he chuckled at the suspicious glare she threw at him once her hands left her face "Promise. I'll let you get back to searching, I think I'll have one last look around before we leave. Don't see much more to look through."

"'Kay" she seemed content with that, but there was a glint in her eye that he didn't like. What was she planning? "Aren't you going to try anything on though? Who knows when we'll be back, best not to chance having an ill-fitted shirt."

"… Right."

He made sure to pick a few pairs of pants before going near the fitting room though, wanting it to be a one-off thing. With that done, he went in.

Everything was going well at first. He tried on several of the shirts along with the pants, and found that he liked many of the combinations. He decided he'd buy the pun shirts just for the sake of annoying Rose whenever he wore one, along with the 'permanently exhausted pigeon' shirt and the skeleton one (he liked skeletons sue him).

This trip might not be a total waste after all. He even had fun during some of it!

Well, he  _had_  been having fun until he spaced out for a moment while in his underwear, and when he went to get his clothes back he froze. He found himself at a complete loss, eyes wide and unseeing as he stared at the only two pieces of clothing left in his fitting room.

How had she even…?

It… It couldn't be… She couldn't have actually-

But it was. And she had.

"Rose! What the fuck!"

He was gonna  _kill her_ -

"Why would you do this!" he couldn't help but yell as he was left staring with horror at the only clothes he'd been left with. He only got more stressed when he heard her guffawing on the other side of the fitting room, probably at the fact that he was so distressed he'd actually cursed "It's not funny, give me back my clothes!"

"Sorry, sorry," she giggled, but didn't sound the least bit remorseful "But the image of you in that dress is too cute."

'Cute'? Since when was he 'cute'? She needed to get her eyes checked.

"Besides, I warned you that I was gonna prank you! The blame falls on you for not being more careful."

That was true but... This was- he just hadn't realized she might prank him like this. He'd thought she might slip in the "Spooky" shorts and the "Bad Bitch" shirt in disgusting neon pink that he'd side-eyed, but not... Not this.

"Rose. If you don't give me my clothes back, I'm gonna kick your ass."

She snorted, and continued on with a smug drawl "Oh really? Like you kicked my ass the last fifty times we fought? Oh wait, I won all those.  _I_  kicked  _your_  ass."

This was  _not_  the time to fucking  _banter_.

He could practically feel steam blowing out of his ears as he spoke slowly through his clenched teeth. Even though she couldn't see him, he had a menacing and furious fake grin on his face "Rose. There's gonna be. A print of my foot. On your hide. For  _years_  to come."

"... Yakko, please. It's just a dress."

Just a dress. Of course it was just a dress to her, she didn't  _get it_. She probably thought it was funny to see him fumbling around and embarrassed because he had to wear a dress, like that somehow negated his masculinity. 'Let's break that stupidly fragile ego of his haha'.

 _Fun_.

It didn't surprise him one bit when he heard the voice let out a furious snarl at the situation, practically scratching at the walls of his mind with pointed claws.

\- There went all her  _fucking_  brownie points. She'll be enjoying the minus fifty spot for a while, if I don't  _ **scratch out her eyes first**_. -

Even with the added rage from the voice, Yakko forced himself to breathe in and out a few times, trying to calm down. Trying to think rationally.

Getting mad would solve nothing, especially when Rose had obviously not meant to hurt him. She clearly didn't realize she was crossing a line, because he knew she was careful with things he was uncomfortable with, made sure not to push too much. She just didn't know this was one of them because he hadn't  _told her_ , he hadn't really... wanted her to know. It was his fault, really. Like previously stated, Rose had actively  _warned him_  that she was going to prank him, and he didn't take the opportunity she'd given him to say "oh hey, actually, you can prank me with literally anything, just please don't use a dress or like, a skirt", and she would have been like "oh, okay, cool, I'll keep that in mind". This whole thing could have been avoided, because she was just trying to play a joke, she wasn't actually trying to be  _mean_.

It wouldn't even be that bad of a prank if he weren't the one at the end of it. If she had done this to Elias for example, like Marilyn likely was, it wouldn't be a big deal. Probably. He wasn't entirely sure.

He clenched his hands into fists. Damn it, he was tougher than this. So what if he had to wear a dress? Wasn't the end of the world. He doubted Rose would make rude comments, aside from maybe teasing him a little by telling him how much of an "ugly girl" he made which... was the best insult she could throw at him in this instance, honestly. There were even matching foot-less leggings, so his ankles would be completely hidden from view.

He could do this.

Pushing out air through his nose like an angry bull, he grabbed the leggings with determination and put them on, frowning the whole time. As if he was going to let a stupid thing like this affect him, he'd show her!

\- You aren't actually gonna...? You know you don't _have to_ right? Like, I'm sure if you just talk to her- -

\- Look. I'm pissed off. But I'll show her I can still look perfectly manly, and dignified, wearing this thing. I'm gonna totally rock her socks off, and then I'll tell her never to do it again because it makes me uncomfortable. And  _then_  we can put this whole thing behind us, because we're friends and she didn't mean to hurt me. -

The voice's tone immediately went from angry and worried to pleasantly surprised, apparently not having anticipated Yakko to actually be able to push through this. There was a lot of pride in his voice when he spoke next, his lips turned upward in a smile.

\- ... Yeah, you can totally do it. Everything looks good on you. -

Some of the irritation left as Yakko brought the cursed cloth over himself, putting his head through the hole. He smiled a little as he pulled the straps up and over his shoulders.

\- You know flattery will get you nowhere. -

\- Damn, and here I was hoping for ice-cream. You're hard to please. -

\- Like I'm gonna suffer through a stomachache just 'cos you said I look nice. I'm not  _nearly_  that cheap, dude. -

An amused hum.

\- But you'd kill for nachos? -

\- You know I would. -

\- I'll bribe you with those next time then. -

\- Shoot, you got me. Nachos will certainly get you  _somewhere_. -

As the voice snickered, Yakko's smile slowly became more of a grimace. Now that he was in the stupid dress, the only thing left was... to see how he looked. It still kind of scared him, but he'd already told himself he was going to go through with this. He wasn't one for backing down.

Steeling himself, he slowly turned around to the mirror.

He'd been terrified of looking like a total sissy, of the dress hugging his soft curves and only making his wide hips more pronounced. Of looking at himself and seeing nothing but a laughing stock, of  _hating every single part of him that he saw._

He'd gotten used to that, even though he'd  _repeatedly_  told their temporary studio guardian that he  _hated_  dresses and that he was  _not_  a doll for her to dress up, no matter how cute she found him in them. He'd ripped each and every single one of them to shreds at the first chance he'd gotten. Eventually she learned her lesson but  _damn_  had that been a tiresome couple of weeks.

Instead of wanting to barf at his reflection though… While he couldn't say he looked like a total macho in the cute dress, he... didn't look half bad.

The dress was simplistic in its design, a thin, cream colored satin that almost reached his knees. The sleeves reached his elbows, with a hole in each shoulder and a simple flower pattern all over the dress. A thin stripe of pinkish cloth wrapped around his middle as if acting as a belt. And at his legs, long white leggings reached down to his ankles, completely hiding them from view but leaving his feet exposed.

- … You look cute. -

He… felt cute.

It shocked him. Why wasn't he upset at the sight? Had he really gotten over it? ... He didn't really feel any different. He still felt and looked like himself, only, you know, in a dress.

Maybe the clothes weren't the problem then, because he wasn't freaking out. Maybe… Maybe it'd been the way everyone at the studio had always acted whenever they'd see him in girly clothes, even when it'd been mandatory for some humorous segment of the show. They'd treated him differently, like somehow just because he was wearing something feminine he was fragile, someone that needed to be looked after. Someone that got extra scolded for being rambunctious and opinionated since he was just supposed to stand there and  _do as he was told_ -

… Anyway.

That'd certainly gone better than expected. Actually, depending on Rose's reaction... Well, he might not be that opposed to trying on a few more, since he hadn't reacted badly to it. Only if she complimented him though, because damn it, he actually looked cute for once.

Just as he was thinking of going out though, he heard the door to the store opening, and suddenly Rose's footsteps were rushing away from the fitting room and back to the front of the store. At first he worried that something had happened, but when he registered StarDust's and Marilyn's far-away voices speaking calmly he relaxed.

He didn't want to go out with her sisters right there, so he decided to sit down on the fitting room's bench for a little bit while they finished their chat. After all, he'd accepted letting Rose tease him a little, but if either of the other two Milers saw him like this? He was pretty sure he'd die on the spot. Luckily they didn't take long, and from what he gathered from what little he could hear they were leaving Wakko and Dot with her for a bit while they went to look at something. Phew, crisis adverted.

One of his siblings must have asked Rose where he was, because he then heard her say "Oh yeah, he's… still in the changing room. Actually, hold on-"

He heard a set of footsteps approaching, and couldn't help but jump a little when there was a soft knocking on the wooden part of the changing room.

"… Yakko?" Rose's voice was soft and filled with concern "Are you okay? You've been in there for a long time… If you really do hate it you don't have to wear it. I'll pass you your clothes, so…"

Aw.

Any left-over resentment for her putting him in this position immediately vanished at her words, an exasperated smile making its way on his face. As expected, Rose was fully ready to take the prank back when she thought he might be actually uncomfortable. What a sweetheart.

\- Did she regain her brownie points? -

\- Fine, fine… She's at two again. -

Instead of responding, he pulled the curtain back without any fanfare, smiling gently at Rose when she startled and took a step back at the suddenness. At first she looked ready to start apologizing, her brows furrowed in worry, but when she realized that he was actually wearing the dress, she paused. She blinked several times, and then her eyebrows rose.

"You… You actually wore it."

"Didn't think I had the guts, didja?" he smirked, playfully leaning with his back against the side of the dressing room and lifting a leg in some form of a ridiculous pose "If you think this is all it takes to humiliate me, then you've got another thing coming, buddy. I can make anything look good."

"I-I wasn't trying to humiliate you!" she stuttered, shaking her hands in a 'it's not what it looks like' manner "I just-I just wanted to prank you, I didn't mean to-"

But when she registered that he was only teasing her, she put down her hands and her whole demeanor relaxed. It didn't take her long to rake her eyes over the outfit and actually smile.

"… It does look good," she hummed, and he wasn't sure if she realized or not, but her cheeks gained some color. Score, he  _did_  look cute "Guess I'm the fool for thinking it wouldn't suit you."

She'd… thought it wouldn't suit him? Huh, and here he'd thought that she'd picked a dress because her thought process had been 'he already looks ridiculously girly, let's add to that'.

That… actually made him feel better.

He was about to respond when he heard footsteps approaching, and when he looked to the side he noticed his siblings looking a little worried.

"Hey, is everything-"

Then they noticed him. Their eyes widened.

And suddenly Wakko and Dot came down on Rose like the wrath of God, both sporting dark glares as they rushed to flank Yakko at either side as if they were his bodyguards. Rose could only blink in confusion and shock, taking a couple of steps back.

"Are you bullying our brother?" Dot said.

"Uh-"

"Because if you are you're gonna get it." Wakko said.

Welp. He really should have realized something like this was going to happen the moment he got out, what with his siblings being right there. Time to defuse the situation.

"Guys, guys" he put his hands up with the intent to calm them down "It's okay, no need to burn Rose at the stake."

"Really?" Dot frowned worriedly at him as Wakko crossed his arms and continued to glare at Rose, disbelieving. His mouth was a grimace as he spoke next "Because it looks to me like she was making fun of you."

"Nahhhh, it's okay! She was pranking me" he laughed a little uneasily, waving the hands he still had up to ask for peace "And I'm cool with it. Really!"

Wakko's glare diminished, and then he started looking up at him with worry like Dot was. Dot's eyes were wide and sad as she wrung her hands.

"… Really?"

They thought he was faking it. They thought he was plastering a smile on his face for the sake of pretending he was okay and that the moment he would be alone he would destroy himself over this. He could see it in their faces, in their eyes. It broke his heart to see them so worried for him, especially over something this  _stupid_ … Instead of letting it take over him though, he metaphorically spit in the face of his feelings and posed haughtily, a (mostly) fake grin on his face as he put his hands on his hips.

"Yeah! So anyway- What do you guys think? Do I look cute or do I look cute?"

It took them a moment, trying to figure out how genuine he was being. When they realized he was not only managing to fight through it, but actually not feeling  _that_  bad about it, their sad frowns slowly became huge smiles.

He practically saw stars in their eyes.

"Cute? You look beautiful, Yakko!" Dot squealed, immediately circling him so she could get a better look at the dress "You  _have_  to get it now, all it needs is an accessory like a- a flower pin in your hair! That'd  _make_  this look! Ooh! And then! Then  _we_  can get dresses too and we'd be a family match and-!"

"Woah sis, calm down" Wakko laughed lightly as he put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her from running out to raid the nearest accessory and dress rack in the store "He didn't say he was gonna buy it, y'know?"

"But, uh… You do look very nice, bro" he smiled, and seeing the 'message' Wakko was trying to convey, Dot did the same. It ended up with both of them giving him adoring looks that did things to his poor heart.

"Argh, stop! Too many mushy feelings!" Yakko pretended to be wounded by all the softness, a hand to his chest as they laughed. While their guard was down, Yakko swooped in and gathered his siblings in a bear hug, relishing in their giggles "You guys are gonna make my heart explode from love!"

"Ew" Dot stuck out her tongue with a playful expression "That's gross. We don't want your heart splattered all over the walls."

Wakko nodded sagely, with an amused smile still on his face "That'd be tragic."

"How dare you imply that my feelings wouldn't make an attractive wallpaper! Feel my wrath!" Yakko then proceeded to noogie them, laughing evilly.

"… Um" Rose interjected as Wakko and Dot protested and tried to escape Yakko's noogying playfully "Does this mean I'm safe from the Familial Glares?"

Immediately the younger Warners turned their glares back on Rose, but they slowly dissolved to unamused stares.

"… Fine. You get a pass this time" Dot narrowed her eyes at her.

"But we'll be watching you" Wakko then pointed two fingers at his eyes and turned them around so they pointed at Rose, looking very serious "Don't mess up again."

Thankfully that was all that was said about it, even though his siblings still kept suspicious eyes on Rose as she paid for their clothes. Meanwhile Yakko took a moment to go back to the dressing room. He meant to change out of the dress and back into his clothes, but as he was about to do so-

" _You do know that just because you're not wearing girly clothes it doesn't make you look any less weak and useless, right?_ "

He paused.

So that was how it was going to be, huh? He was fine until he was by himself… Typical.

He sighed lightly, shaking his head to dispel the upsetting thoughts. It was fine,  _he_  was fine, and there was no reason for him to be upset. He focused on that as he started taking off the dress, feeling the dark cloud of fear and shame trying to crawl back over him. The Girl tried her best to upset him as he did so, whispering in his ear. Hissing about how stupid he was, about how much people would be better off without him.

Ignore, ignore,  _ignore_.

\- Yakko? You okay? -

\- I'm… I'm fine. -

\- Need me to step up? -

He stopped with the dress half-way off him, staring into it as he thought.

\- No. I can work through it myself. -

\- … Thanks though. -

The voice smiled at him, sounding worried as he spoke next.

\- Okay … But if you need me, I'm here. -

Yakko tried to relax. Tried to allow himself to bask in the fact that the voice was concerned at all, that he cared enough to be concerned. And yet still-

" _Now you went and made him worry. Why do you have to be such a **whiny, sensitive bitch**  all the time?_"

Taking in a sharp breath, he threw the dress away from himself and sat down, trying to calm down as the voice spoke up in worry.

\- Yakko? Please, I can help if you need me to- -

-  _ **No**_. I'm  _ **fine**_. I can take her. -

\- … -

\- You can't fight all my battles for me. -

The voice sighed softly, sadly.

\- I know… I wish I could, though. -

With that said, Yakko stubbornly put his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands, letting his mind go blank. He counted to ten, then to twenty, and started whispering softly to himself.

"I'm loved. I deserve to be loved. I'm a good person. I deserve happiness."

" _You're useless._ "

"I'm loved. I deserve to be loved. I'm a good person. I deserve happiness."

" _Nobody loves you. They just think you're pitiful._ "

"I'm loved. I deserve to be loved."

" _Remember all the awful things you did? Oh, wait, you **don't**. How are you so sure you haven't done even  **worse**  things than the ones you do remember?_"

Pause.

_\- Yakko- -_

\- I'm fine. -

Deep breath.

"I'm a good person. I deserve happiness" he glared at his thighs with all the hate he could muster, gritting his teeth "And you don't get to define who's good and who isn't. Go sulk somewhere else."

It took him a moment, but after breathing deeply in and out for a few seconds he was finally okay enough to stand up. He stretched a little, looking at himself in the mirror.

He smiled weakly at his underwear-clad self, snapping his fingers into finger guns "Hey there, you sexy beast. Put on some clothes before someone faints from how hot you are."

He heard the voice giggling in his head, sounding relieved, and Yakko let the soft sound calm him down as he changed into his clothes.

He was fine. She only spoke lies, and she couldn't hurt him if he didn't listen to her.

Repeating that in his head a few more times for good measure, he walked out of the stall fully clothed, the dress over his arm. He went over to the rack where he figured Rose had gotten it, and as he put it back he heard footsteps approaching.

"Hey," Rose said as he turned around to look at her and his siblings, looking a little concerned "You took a while. Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he smiled tiredly at her "I was just busy admiring myself in the mirror. I mean, I'm just so hot."

"Har har" she rolled her eyes, smiling back at him "The only thing you're hotter than is a baked potato."

"Hey! I happen to think baked potatoes are super sexy."

As they walked out of the store and Rose laughed at his ridiculousness, Yakko spotted Elias leaning against the wall of a fancier store on the other side of the street. He looked bored, arms crossed and one foot pressed against the side of the wall in the 'classic douche look'.

 _Finally_ , someone to take his stress out on.

"Hey, Little Prince" Yakko called out, expression quickly morphing into a mocking one "You done spending Papa's money yet? Bet you swiped his credit card."

Elias grimaced at him, but got off the wall and walked over to them anyway "We use  _gold_  here, dumbass. Whatever stupid human currency 'credit card' is, we don't use it."

"No, I know we're using gold" Yakko smiled, again, mockingly "That insult was for my siblings' sake.  _They_  know what a credit card is."

Boom, instant rage. Good to know it still bothered Elias that Yakko had grown up on the Human Side with Wakko and Dot, it gave him plenty of ammunition. Aaaah winning over him was so cathartic.

Dot snorted, but tried to look as if she hadn't laughed and was merely coughing, while Wakko just smiled as he shook his head. It seemed like they enjoyed the little rivalry between Yakko and Elias, but still rushed to follow the prince when he started stomping away from them with a frown, trying to talk to him. Confused but unwilling to be left behind, Yakko started following them along with Rose, watching with a raised eyebrow as Elias' tense posture slowly dissolved and he started answering his siblings.

"… You've gotta lay off, Yakko. I think that one actually hurt him" Rose whispered to him as they walked, sending him a chiding look "Even Wakko and Dot can tell you're going a bit too far."

"Is that why they're walking with him?" he frowned "Huh… thought I'd just made him mad."

Looking back on it, he supposed that'd been… a little harsh. Shit, all these bad thoughts must have been really getting to him if he was purposefully provoking people like that. Sure he was still angry at Elias but he didn't  _actually_  want to hurt him.

"Look" Rose sighed, looking put off "If you're still mad at me and you need to take it out on someone then do it with me, not him. For once, he hasn't done anything."

"What? No, that's not-"

"It's not? You look majorly stressed out, Yakko. Don't pretend that's not at least partly my fault."

He stayed quiet, frowning softly at the backs of Elias and his siblings. He hadn't meant to upset her… Luckily, before The Girl could think to chime in, Rose smiled softly and elbowed him gently.

"I'll buy you a burger as an apology. That cool with you?"

It was  _incredibly_  cool with him and he was glad she wasn't dwelling on the whole prank thing, but he smiled and tried to banter with her like he always did.

"What? I'm not that cheap."

"Hm… Burger and nachos?"

" _Now_  you're talking."

They grinned and tried to trip each other all the way to the food court, ignoring Elias' complaining that they were acting like children and Wakko and Dot's chant of "Fight! Fight! Fight!".

… Life could be good every once in a while, if he just let it be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Bullying (The Girl being a bitch to Yakko again), being uncomfortable with one's body and how it looks in certain types of clothes, mentions of panic attacks, calming down from an impending panic attack.
> 
> Author's note: Pls don't call anyone a "functional nutcase", Yakko is very mean to himself. He was also quite the champ this chapter, I thought for sure he was gonna have a total break down but he held up. You did great, baby *hands Yakko an 'I survived my shitty brain torturing me' badge*.
> 
> Ok so rant incoming; any of you writers know that moment where you're in a part of your story you haven't really planned out and nothing THAT exciting is happening and you just gotta get through it? This is that part. Actually, even after next chapter we won't be out of That Part. We have been in That Part since last chapter.
> 
> Sad face.
> 
> But actually I'm super pissed at my brain because like- I listen to music all the time right? And it's one of those things that just inspires the shit out of me. I often end up making little music videos about my stories inside my head as I listen, and HOLY FUCKING SHIT the SHEER HYPE that I always get for this story when I do it I can't even tell you. The bad part of this? The Hype is often for the Backstory tm. So I'm ALWAYS hyped for continuing this story, it's just that when I come to write and I realize I'm at That Part I'm like aughhhhhhhh whyyyyyyyyyy WHY COULDN'T I GET HELP WRITING THIS FUCKING PART RATHER THAN THE BACKSTORY? I ALREADY FUCKING KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BACKSTORY THANK. I KNOW IT'S FUCKING AWESOME BUT YOU'RE NOT HELPING ME, BRAIN.
> 
> Because of the Backstory Hype any backstory scenes that I ADORE but don't end up making it into the story for some reason or another will be in a separate ficlet. I'll probably make it once all the mysteries are revealed, which. Will take a while.
> 
> Anyway. Sorry for rambling, I'm just sad it took me almost five months to write this shit OTL This chapter also only got Actually Fun at the very end and while I was editing. I actually made myself smile and laugh a little at some parts, so it's not all bad. I don't hate this chapter! *throws confetti*
> 
> Fun fact, this chapter was practically entirely re-written and the events that happen are all completely different from the original version of this chapter! … That's also why I took so long. I'm so sorry.
> 
> ALSO! Because I took so long and Writer's Block was a big bitch to me I ended up drawing Rose in some of the clothes of this chapter! I'm planning on drawing her and Yakko in all the clothes in this chapter as well as a few others I saw that were cool. Find them cramping-sugar-hands.tumblr.com! I'll put up the ones I already have done shortly after this chapter is up.
> 
> See you next chapter, I love you all!


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